Disinterred
by DarkNymfa
Summary: A body is found in the woods of Amity Park, but its spirit still lingers among the people. Everybody has their own theory on who it is and how they died... But what is the truth?
1. The Ones Who Died Without A Name

_disinter_

_1 : to take out of the grave or tomb_  
_2 : to bring back into awareness or prominence_

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Oh boy here we go. Disinterred is multi-chapter fic based on my two-shot Unearthed. It follows a similar storyline and setting, but expands on the concept, and continues beyond Unearthed. You don't need to read Unearthed to understand Disinterred, it's a stand-alone story.

Disinterred is set mid-way through season 3, after Forever Phantom. Until that point, it follows all canon episodes. After that, however, it's canon divergent.  
Every season is a separate school year, so Disinterred is set some 2 - 2.5 years after the Accident. Danny&Co are 16, Jazz is 18 and in college (but she'll be around, no worries).

Also yes some of the (early) chapters will contain OCs. I kinda needed them to get the story going, but no worries, they'll be phased out soon enough.

Updates for Disinterred will be weekly, with a chapter posted on every Wednesday. If I don't post one (and I don't make a post explaining it), kick me because I've probably forgotten. (preferably over on Tumblr, where I can be found as inky-interest)

(and yes the first chapter is pretty short. More of an introduction to the story than a proper chapter, but pacing. I might upload the next one later today to make up for it, although you're technically getting this a month early either way)

**Content warning:** swearing, mildly graphic descriptions of corpses, implied/referenced character death

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**Chapter 1: The Ones Who Died Without A Name**

It had been such an ordinary morning, he thought. He had hiked in the woods around Amity Park for years, and despite the presence of ghosts, he had never run into trouble. The forest was quiet and peaceful, as always. The birds sang, and as he left the set paths, he thought nothing could possibly ruin the moment.

Until he tripped and fell flat on his face.

He grumbled, cursing to himself, and pushed himself up again. Luckily no one had been around, so he could hold on to the last shreds of his dignity.

Brushing the leaves and pine needles off of his clothes, he carefully rotated his feet to ensure he hadn't rolled his ankles. Reassured that the only thing injured was his dignity, he looked back at the root that he had tripped over.

It wasn't a root.

He grimaced, hesitating. He didn't _think_ that roots could look so much like human limbs, but he was in no way an expert. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

Sighing, he moved over and knelt next to the hopefully-a-root, intend on brushing away some of the leaves to reassure himself.

But looking at it from this close, it was clear that his first thought had been correct. This wasn't a piece of nature that just happened to resemble a human limb, it _was_ a limb. Just looking at it made his stomach turn, and he looked away, gagging.

He glanced back, but took in little more than the horrible blend of red and black formed in the shape of a leg, with a strip of gleaming white where the kneecap was poking out, before he forced his eyes closed again. He turned away, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.

He had never seen death. Not really. And even on television, in movies, it was never like this. Not this… this _graphic_. It was horrible, awful, he had no words that could describe how he felt.

Forcing his eyes open again, he looked around, making sure to avoid the leg. He wanted to get away from his find as fast as possible. However, he couldn't see anything in the area that could help him track down this place again if he left, no identifying marks of any kind. He couldn't even remember the way he walked from the path.

He cursed, then pulled out his phone. He would have to call the cops from here, and they could tell him what he was supposed to do next.

Unfortunately, he was told to wait with the body until the cops arrived. They couldn't track his exact location, so he would have to call them over when they got close. A dreadfully long time later, he could hear them yelling in the distance, and beckoned them over.

One of the officers crouched next to the leg and whistled. He was promptly elbowed by one of the other officers, but her glare silenced any protests the man might've made.

His attention was drawn towards the officer who stepped towards him, however. The cop nodded towards him, beckoning him over. He gladly complied.

"I'm detective Payton, I'm leading this investigation. You're the one who called us, yes?"

He nodded, focusing on the man instead of the body. Not that he could see the body, as a crowd of officers had formed around it, but still.

The detective cleared his throat, and he snapped back to attention. "So, why don't you tell me what happened?"

"I, uh." He licked his lips and tried again. "I was walking in the woods, which I do pretty often. Have done for years, y'know? Nothing ever happens, don't ever run into ghosts or anything." Seeing the officer nod, he continued. "So I was just walking, and I… I tripped. Thought it was a root, but then I looked and I saw..." He made a vague arm movement towards the still-growing crowd of police. "Well, I saw a leg."

"So you didn't touch anything?"

He shook his head. "No. Well, except for the part where I tripped over it."

Detective Payton stared at him, expressionlessly. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that the man was trying to read his mind. Whatever Payton was looking at, he must have found it, because he gave a curt nod and turned back to the other officers.

He hesitated, unsure of what he should do next. One of the officers clearly saw his confusion, as she came towards him. "Sir, we'll need you to come with us to the station to give us an official statement. After that, you're free to go."

She whirled around and stormed off, and he obediently followed her. The confusing cocktail of emotions he had been feeling ever since he stumbled across the body had disappeared, leaving him rather numb. He wondered if that was normal. He also wondered when he would have to deal with the inevitable emotional backlash of this whole thing.

He shoved the thought away. It was a problem for another time, he decided. He would give his statement to the police, and they would figure the whole thing out, and he wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.

And that, he did. His statement was taken, he was released by the cops, and he vowed to never return to those accursed woods again. Next time he would take a walk through the park, ghosts be damned.

* * *

Detective Payton watched the man leave with officer Carver, and turned back to the corpse.

While only the leg had been visible, the rest hadn't been buried much deeper. They had successfully unearthed the entire body, which followed the same trend as the leg.

From top the bottom, the entire body was scorched, an unappealing mix of red and black and white. The flesh was completely burned away in many places, revealing shiny white bones. Patches of the clothes could be made out in places, white and black fused with the torn skin, but not nearly enough to tell what kind of clothing the victim had been wearing.

The body was far beyond recognition, but the small posture and slight build suggested that the victim had been a mere child. A teenager at most.

The overall picture was grizzly, and while Payton was one of the most experienced officers in Amity Park, even he had little experience with corpses so heavily mutilated. Especially if this victim had indeed been a child.

He studiously ignored the sounds of one of his officers vomiting in the trees (_probably Milligan_, he thought to himself, _the poor boy was one of the newer policemen of Amity Park_) and turned to his medical examiner.

"Doctor Beckett, what can you tell me?"

She hummed to acknowledge him, but didn't look away from the body. "Well Matthias, there isn't much I can tell you that you can't see for yourself. The body was burned beyond recognition, but I can't say if it was the cause of death or if it happened afterwards. Must have been buried for a while though, since it looks like it's decaying already, which means that we can't confirm or deny the involvement of ghosts. No traces of ectoplasm, y'know?"

Payton grimaced. "You're right, that isn't much to go off of. Better get this back to the station so you can start your autopsy."

Beckett nodded, finally turning to look at him, a teasing smile on her face. "Aww, Payton, you know just the right things to say to me."

He rolled his eyes but didn't dignify her with an answer. He knew she wasn't expecting one anyway.

The corpse was bagged and carried off by Beckett and her assistant, and Payton called Milligan back over. The officer still looked somewhat sick, but was quick to assure Payton that he was fine. Or he would be, at least.

The ride back to the police station was uncharacteristically quiet. And so was the station, once the team had been informed about the case.

It was a gruesome case, but not unheard of. Most experienced police officers would know stories like it.

Unfortunately, Amity Park's police officers weren't like most other officers. The involvement of ghosts meant that the police had to be prepared to deal with bizarre and unexpected situations. As a result, they tended to attract not strict, highly experienced police officers, but the adaptable younger officers with less field experience. And none of them had expected to stumble across a case like this in Amity Park.

Crime in Amity Park, real actual _crime_, committed by humans, was exceedingly rare. Robberies and muggings were practically unheard of, never mind murders. And while ghosts attacked the city almost constantly, physical injuries were very rare. Sometimes people got injured in the general chaos, hit by debris during a ghost fight, or got threatened, but no one ever gets killed.

So yes, the new case caused quite a stir.

Unfortunately, this also made it nigh impossible to keep it quiet. The public was told nothing, all knowledge of the case was denied, but somehow word spread anyway. Before long, everyone in Amity Park knew that a body was found in the woods. And so the town became abuzz with rumors and gossip, the wildest theories spreading.

People suspected the ghosts, of course, who wouldn't? But most people were quick to dismiss them as responsible. Amity Park is home to several ghost hunters, after all, and even if Phantom or the Red Huntress hadn't been able to stop a ghost from killing someone, they certainly would have informed the police about the death.

No, it was considered far more likely that a human was responsible for this heinous crime. But who, in their right mind, would turn on their own kind in a city like this? An outsider, perhaps? Or someone from the city itself, who hoped that the presence of ghosts would cover their tracks?

Yes, there were theories aplenty, both among the citizens of Amity Park and among the officers working the case, but more proof was needed.


	2. Led Away By Imperfect Impostors

**Chapter 2: Led Away By Imperfect Impostors**

"Well doctor Beckett, what do you have for me?"

The addressed doctor didn't look up from her work, but then, there was no need to. She had already recognized the voice as detective Payton's. Instead, she snorted at his needlessly professional mode of address.

"Matthias, please just call me by my first name."

She heard him sigh, and chuckled to herself. He complied, though. "Alright, fine. _Olympia_, what do you have for me?"

"Well," she started, turning around to look at him while they were talking. "Not much, to be honest. As I suspected at the crime scene, it wasn't a recent event. The corpse has been buried for a while, long enough that any traces of ectoplasm that might have been left behind would have evaporated ages ago.

"It's almost impossible to determine a cause of death, but we haven't been able to find any injuries beyond the obvious. It's likely that he was killed by the same thing that burned him so badly, but we're not sure _what_, exactly, that was." She stared him down, having finished her speech.

Payton nodded, a grim expression on his face. "Any luck IDing the body?"

She hummed. "Between the decay and the burns, the easy ways of identifying him are out. We've been able to figure out that our victim is male, and that he was a teenager when he died, but there isn't even enough of his hair left to tell what color it was when he was alive."

A quick look at Payton showed that he was still following the conversation, and she continued. "Now, normally we would go for dental records with a case like this one. Unfortunately, we have no clue who the body could have belonged to, so we have no one to compare the teeth to."

"So that leaves what, DNA?"

She nodded, a distasteful expression on her face. "Yep. And that, unfortunately, takes a while to get results from."

"Great," Payton sighed. "Be sure to let me know when the results are in."

"Of course Matthias. Now go on, I'm sure you have more people to talk to." She offered him a kind smile. In turn, he rolled his eyes but smiled back, before leaving the way he had come.

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The sound of heels clicking drew the attention of the entire team. The determined expression on doctor Beckett's face ensured that said attention remained on her.

"I got the results of the DNA test for our body." Her voice was hard and cutting, like steel.

Payton quirked an eyebrow at her. "You don't sound pleased with them. No match?"

"No, I got a match alright," she practically hissed, and wow, Payton doesn't think he has ever heard her this upset. Actually, he doesn't think any of his officers have ever heard her upset at all. They must think that she's _pissed_.

He saw Mike glance at Rosie, who shrugged in return, which apparently was all the encouragement Mike needed.

"So then what's the problem?" The tone of his voice was casual, but Payton knew that it was faked.

"The problem is that it doesn't make any _god damn_ sense!" She accompanied the snarl with a glare towards Mike, who shrunk away from the furious doctor. Kid could face a hostile ghost, no problem, but apparently Beckett was too much for him. Payton decided to take mercy on him.

He cleared his throat, then spoke with his voice as calm as he could manage. "Have you tried double-checking them?"

Beckett's stare could probably melt steel, but Payton has seen worse. Mike's thankful expression helped, too.

"No, _Matthias_," she snapped at him, "I'm obviously a complete idiot and hadn't thought of that. Of course I double-checked! Even the dental records are a perfect match!"

"So then what's the problem, doctor Beckett?" Rosie attempted to soothe the situation, but was rewarded with another glare.

"The problem is that the match is still alive."

The entire team froze. Then they all simultaneously unfroze, exclaiming various expressions of surprise.

Beckett rolled her eyes, but had finally calmed down. "So yes, _that_ is the problem."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Mike groaned, frustration lacing his voice.

Seeing the chaos, Payton decided to put the discussion back on track. "Olympia, who is the kid?"

"The corpse is a perfect match for Daniel Fenton." Seeing the shock on the faces of the team, she smiled. "Yes, he's _that_ Daniel Fenton. Son of ghost hunters Jack and Maddie Fenton."

Payton hummed, thoughtfully. "And we know that their son is still alive, since he's obviously in the city, still lives with them, and still attends school."

"So then how did we find a corpse that is a perfect match with him?" Rosie is the one who asked, but Mike's expression made it clear that he had been moments away from asking as well.

Beckett snorted. "That's the real question, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Payton huffed. "Should've known we wouldn't get a normal case in this city."

Mike grinned at him, impishly. "Please boss, that would've been too easy."

Payton rolled his eyes in fond exasperation before attempting to steer the conversation back on track. Again. "So now that we've established that somehow we have the dead body of a teenager who is still living in this city, does anybody here have any theories?"

"Well," Mike drew the word out, waiting until everyone focused on him before continuing. "_Do_ we know if he's still living in the city?"

Beckett frowned at him. "Explain?"

"Well, he's obviously still _in_ the city, but we don't have any proof that he's, well, _alive_, do we? We deal with plenty of ghosts in this city, who says we can't have one living among us?"

The others blinked at him a few times, a variety of emotions flitting across their faces as they processed the statement.

"That's..." Rosie trailed off, but Beckett picked up.

"It wouldn't be the strangest thing we've come across in Amity Park."

Payton hummed an affirmative, before nodding. "Alright, so why don't we check if it's possible. Rosie, check his school attendance records. See if he went missing for any suspicious amounts of time." Hearing an affirmative from her, he turned to his other officer. "Mike, you check his medical records. I'm not sure how well a ghost can mimic human anatomy, but I bet that a doctor would take notice."

"Yes sir, right away!"

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Payton clapped his hands to draw the attention of his team, and looked at them as they gathered around him.

"So team, what did we find?"

Rosie stood up and cleared her throat. "The victim's school records are… not great. His attendance during pretty much all of high school has been poor, he's often late, skips lessons, and sometimes even leaves in the middle of class. The only extended period of time where he didn't attend was about two and a half years ago, just after the start of his high school career. He was sick for about a week before returning."

"Anything else noteworthy?"

She shrugged, and moved to sit down again. "No, unless you count his poor grades. Kinda weird, considering his genius family, but he might just be slacking off."

Payton nodded, then turned to Mike. "And you, officer Milligan?"

"Uh yeah." He licked his lips as he stood up. "He hasn't been to any kind of medical check-ups in roughly two years. No trips to the hospital, no visits to the dentist, nothing."

"Which supports our theory that if the boy is a ghost, he can't mimic being alive convincingly enough to trick doctors. _And_, it coincides with the only time he didn't attend school for a prolonged period of time." Payton turned to face Beckett. "Doctor, is it possible that the body has been buried for that long?"

She hummed, appearing deep in thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, that's definitely possible. Can't confirm it based on the state of the body, though."

"Wow Mike, looks like your theory might be right after all," Rosie ribbed, winking at him. Mike, in turn, was clearly struggling to stop himself from sticking out his tongue in childish retaliation.

Sometimes Payton wondered why he still worked in this city.

"Alright gentlemen, that's enough." He glared down both of his officers, who offered him sheepish expressions in apology.

Seeing that he had drawn the attention back to himself, he decided to summarize the case. "So, we have the body of Daniel Fenton, who probably died 2 years ago. No one noticed, however, because a ghost has taken his place and has been living as Daniel since then. We'll have to schedule an interview with him to see if we can find conclusive evidence in either direction. But even if the current Daniel Fenton is, in fact, a ghost, he might be Daniel as well."

Beckett frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"I think," Mike hesitated, but continued when he saw Payton nod, "that he means that Daniel might be his own ghost."

Rosie made a face. "If that's the case, why didn't he tell anyone? I don't know about you guys, but if I was killed, I would make sure the murderer gets caught."

"Yeah, I agree with officer Carver. If he was stubborn enough to not only come back as a ghost, but to move back in with his parents as well, I can't imagine that he would shy away from informing the police."

"Unless he doesn't remember." Mike shrugged upon seeing the incredulous expressions on the faces of Rosie and Beckett. "We don't really know anything about ghosts. Daniel might remember things from when he was alive, so he can blend in like nothing happened, but maybe the memories of his death are lost."

Beckett hummed thoughtfully. "I suppose that that makes sense. The murderer might have caught him off-guard and killed him before Daniel ever noticed." She frowned. "But he would still be aware of the fact that he died. He shies away from doctors, so he _must_ be aware."

"Unless the ghost isn't Daniel's after all." Payton smirked at the raised eyebrows of his team. "I said that the ghost _might _be Daniel's, not that he _is_. We should consider the possibility that this is some other ghost playing pretend."

"But why would a ghost pretend to be some random teenager?"

Mike snorted at his colleague. "Why do ghosts do anything? And it's not like they never pretend to be alive, either. There have been a number of ghosts in this city that could pull it off so well that no one knew until they blew their own cover in a fight with Phantom. I'm sure we all remember the whole Ember craze? Or even that counselor at Casper High, whatever her name was?"

Rosie frowned back at him. "So you're saying what, exactly? That a ghost attacked and killed an innocent teenager and then replaced him? And of all the possible victims, said ghost targeted the son of the cities best-known ghost hunters?"

"His parents..." Beckett whispered, but despite her soft voice all conversation dropped. As everyone turned to look at her, they saw her increasingly horrified expression. "His parents are ghost hunters. If Daniel was replaced by a ghost, either his own or another, surely they would have known."

She looked up, meeting everyone's eyes. "Unless they were responsible."

An uneasy silence fell over them, as they all considered her words. Payton ended up being the one to break it. "You're suggesting that the parents killed the boy, and that they're forcing him to stay quiet about it?"

"Just think about it. If it happened two and a half years ago, it would have been before our first recorded spectral visitors. Everyone thought that they were nuts back then, as they had no conclusive proof that ghosts existed." Beckett shrugged, uneasy. "If they found a way to guarantee that Daniel would become a ghost, they might have done it just so they had proof."

Rosie shifted, a disturbed expression on her face. "And what, now that ghosts are known to exist they've decided to keep quiet about it?"

"Look, I agree that the Fentons are a questionable bunch. And while they love ghosts, they love their kids more, I'm sure of it."

Payton sighed. "Unfortunately, Mike, sometimes people can put on very convincing acts." He stood up, folding his hands together and putting on a determined expression. "But we were going to interview Daniel Fenton anyway, so we may as well involve the entire family.

"Even if the parents aren't responsible, surely either them or their daughter would have noticed that Daniel died."

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The arrival of the Fenton family happened in typical Fenton fashion. It involved the god-awful screeching of tires and what sounded like metal being introduced to the walls of their building at worrying speeds.

Jack Fenton must have been driving the RV today.

The good thing about this was that the team handling the investigation was ready to receive the Fentons the moment they entered the building. The children were left in a waiting room, while Payton led the adult Fentons to an interrogation room. Rosie and Mike were already waiting behind the glass to watch.

While, admittedly, suspects normally wouldn't be interrogated together, Jack's tendency to ramble on about ghosts was legendary. Payton hoped that Maddie would help curb said rambling.

And so Payton found himself standing in front of the two possible murderers, dressed as always in their orange and teal jumpsuits. How was it that he could handle malevolent ghosts and possible killers with no sweat, but the two ghost hunters made him so worried?

Oh yeah. It was because they were _nuts_.

He shoved the thoughts away to focus on the case. The hunters looked at him with curiosity clear on their faces. Neither of them seemed concerned by the fact that they had been called in, no signs of concern or guilt.

He smiled at them, politely, and offered his hand for them to shake. "Jack and Maddie Fenton, I'm detective Payton. Lead investigator for the case involving the dead body found in the woods, which I'm sure you've heard of."

Maddie shook his hand and nodded. "We've heard that a body was found, but I'm afraid that that's the extend of our knowledge." She released his hand, but Jack was quick to grab it in her stead. The ensuing handshake was overly enthusiastic, and Payton forced himself not to grimace as Jack finally released his hand.

"Yes, we tried to keep details about the case hidden from the public. For that same reason, we must ask you to keep anything you learn during this meeting to yourself."

Jack grinned, wide and boisterous. "Of course, detective! We won't tell anyone!"

Maddie, however, frowned at Payton. "So why were we asked to come in?"

Payton licked his lips, weighing his words for a moment. "We believe that the case might involve a ghost." It wasn't a lie, per se, but the Fentons would likely assume that he meant that they suspected the _killer_ to be the ghost in question. It wasn't a detail they would normally give out, but the Fentons would probably blame a ghost for the murder anyway, with or without proof.

Maddie's eyes narrowed, her expression twisting into something foul. "Yes, of course. We should have known that a _ghost_ was responsible for such a vile act. What do you want to know?"

"We've already established that it has been too long after the fact to determine the involvement of ghosts based on traces of ectoplasm. Can we find proof in a different way? A certain characteristic in ectoplasm-based burns, or something along those lines?"

Surprisingly, it was Jack who answered. "No, unless the death was directly caused by supernatural means. A ghost _can_ kill by using their intrinsic abilities, but they don't _have_ to. The only guaranteed way is by checking for traces of ectoplasm."

"Are there certain conditions that would have prevented the ectoplasm from dispelling? By burying the body, for example, or by burning it to a certain degree?"

"No." Maddie shook her head. "The ectoplasm that ghosts naturally expel, both in its gaseous form and in its energized form, dispels too easily to conserve."

"Yeah, the only ectoplasm we can keep to work with is liquid ectoplasm! It's what we use to power out inventions, you know?"

"So there is no way to prove, or disprove, the involvement of a ghost?" Payton frowned. He hadn't _thought_ that there was a way to prove ghostly involvement, but it would've been good to have proof.

Maddie sighed. "I'm afraid not. Even high amounts of ectoplasm would have evaporated by now, and if the death was caused with ghostly abilities, you would have been able to tell without involving ghost experts."

Payton nodded, offering them another polite smile. "Well, thank you for your time regardless. We're still going to interview your children, but you two are free to leave."

"Our kids?" Jack frowned at him, puffing up with a rather protective air. "Why do you need to talk to our kids?"

Payton hesitated for a moment, trying to determine the best course of action. He decided to try and play on said protective nature to distract them.

"The victim was a teenager, likely around the same age as your children would have been at the time. They might have noticed someone disappearing, even if they hadn't thought anything about it at the time."

Maddie gasped as Jack melted back into a more relaxed position. "Oh, poor kid! Their parents must be so torn up about it."

Jack nodded along, before booming his own answer. "Yes, if you find out which ghost is responsible, be sure to tell us! We'll tear the ectoplasmic scum to pieces!"

"Yes, we'll let you know if we need your services. For now, please keep the details quiet." As they moved to leave the room, he called to them again. "Oh, and please ask your daughter to come in next."

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When Jasmine entered the room, Payton shook her hand and smiled. "I'm detective Payton, and you're Jasmine Fenton, yes?"

She nodded and fixed him with an investigative stare that reminded him of her mother. "That's me alright. Why did you want to speak to me?"

"There are… concerns about your family, especially your brother." She stiffened slightly at the mention of Daniel, but melted back into a relaxed position almost immediately. Curious.

"What about Danny?" Her tone was sharp, accusing. She knew something, but wasn't going to give it up easy. Payton had to play this carefully.

"His track record with school is worrying. Between his low grades and frequent truancy, people are afraid that something is up with him."

The gaze she set on him was calculating, and Payton realized that this girl was taking in and memorizing every single thing he said (and even what he _didn't_ say). He would have to watch his words, or he might accidentally let details about the case slip.

The expression on her face shifted into something less accusing, and she shrugged. "Yes, I agree that it is concerning. But I don't think that it's problematic enough to involve the police."

Payton resisted the urge to scowl at her, and raised an eyebrow instead. "You aren't worried about the fact that your brother has changed these last few years?"

"Nah," she scoffed. "He's a teenager, I would be worried if he _hadn't_ changed."

Payton considered asking her more, but he could still see her analytical gaze beneath the carefree mask she put on, and decided to cut off the interview. She was too sharp, and he decided not to risk her figuring out details they were trying to keep hidden.

Instead he waved his hand towards the door. "Thank you for your time, Jasmine. You're free to leave."

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Daniel entered the room with a hesitant expression on his face, and Payton caught a glimpse of doctor Beckett as she guided him in. She must have been on her way to watch the interview from behind the glass.

Payton put on his most encouraging smile and offered his hand. The boy accepted it, his own hand slightly cool to the touch, but not inhumanly so. Nothing about it suggested that this kid was a ghost.

But Payton wasn't convinced so easily.

"Daniel Fenton, I'm detective Matthias Payton. Please, have a seat."

The boy nodded and slumped into the seat before quirking an eyebrow towards Payton. "So uh, what's up?"

Payton frowned inwardly at the typical teenage behavior. He knew he should've expected it, because if Daniel _was_, in fact, a ghost, the specter would have been skilled enough to fool the entire town into thinking it was a regular teenager. But still, it didn't make his job of finding out the truth any easier.

Instead he sat down in his own chair. "You've heard of the body found in the woods, yes?"

Daniel nodded. "Uh, yeah. There are a bunch of rumors and stuff about it at school, but I'm not sure which of those are true and which aren't."

"The only thing the public currently knows is that we found the body. Everything else is speculation or guesswork." Payton quirked an eyebrow at the boy. "So anything you learn from this conversation has to be kept quiet, okay?"

He nodded again, more vigorously. "Of course, I completely understand."

"Good, good." Payton kept his eye on the boy, to get the best possible read on his reaction to the news. "The body we found belonged to a teenager. Would've been about your age at the time of death."

He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he had expected from the kid. Definitely recognition, though.

But that wasn't what he got.

No, instead the boy clenched his fists, a scowl on his face. His eyes light up with intense fury, and Payton could have sworn that the irises turned a vivid green, but after the boy blinked his eyes were their regular icy blue. For all intents and purposes, the kid looked like he was ready to go out and deal with the person responsible for the crime himself, if only he knew who it was.

It wasn't even remotely similar to Payton's expectations, and thus it caught him completely off-guard. He wavered for a moment, hesitating. But if the boy didn't know anything about the body in the woods, then there was nothing Payton could learn from him. Not now, at least.

He cleared his throat, and the boy snapped back to attention, forcibly relaxing. "You're free to leave, Daniel."

The kid blinked at him, as if dazed. His reply was similar. "Huh?"

"We're done with the interview, you're free to leave." Seeing the boy hesitate, he flapped his hands towards the door. "Go on, shoo. I'm sure you have something better to do than hang out at a police station."

"Uh, yeah." Daniel nodded and finally stood up, moving towards the door. "Um, good luck with the case. I hope you figure out who did it."

And with that, he left.

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"Well! That was rather useless."

Payton quirked an eyebrow at Rosie in answer to her declaration. "You don't know that."

"Yeah I do," she huffed. "The parents obviously didn't do it, and they don't seem to be aware of the fact that Daniel might be a ghost either. The oldest child, the daughter, was admittedly a little sketchy, but she's protective of Daniel. _Maybe_ she knows that he died, but she definitely won't tell us." She shrugged at the rest of the team. "And Daniel, or the ghost replacing Daniel, didn't know anything either. So yeah, all of this was rather useless."

"That's where you're wrong." Rosie whirled around to look at Beckett, who rolled her eyes at the other woman and sighed.

"You've already established that the parents aren't responsible for Daniel's death, and neither is his sister. Based on what I saw during Daniel's interview, and what you've stated as well, the boy doesn't know anything about the situation. Which means that the ghost isn't the killer either."

"So that leaves us with two possibilities for the identity of the ghost. One," Payton held up a finger, "is that this is the ghost of Daniel Fenton, but he forgot about his death when he became a ghost. Or two," he raised another finger, "this is some random ghost who decided to pretend that it was Daniel, and it never stopped."

Mike hummed, thoughtfully. "I think his reaction was very interesting. Strange, too. He seemed genuinely angry about either the situation, or the fact that a teenager died. But there was no recognition of any kind, like he didn't even consider the possibility that it was _his_ body that was found. I don't know what to make of that, though."

"Yes, if this is Daniel's own ghost, he doesn't know anything about the circumstances of his death." Beckett frowned. "I would suggest the possibility that he might not even be aware of the fact that he died at all, but between the avoiding of doctors and what we know of ghosts, I find that unlikely."

"So now what? We invite him back and demand to know if he's a ghost or not? Figure out some way to determine if he's Daniel Fenton?" Rosie scoffed.

"Actually," Payton drew out the word, "we probably _should_ talk with him again. But first we'll need to find some way to identify him without him figuring out what we're trying to do. If this _is_, in fact, some random ghost, we can't afford to have it find out. If it knows what we're trying to do, it will do its best to stop us from identifying it."

* * *

**AN:** A relatively big chapter, since I ended up merging chapters 2 and 3 for this one. Original title for the second part was "Like Our Time Is Running Out", from The Phoenix by Fall Out Boy. Actual title is from This Is Gospel by Panic! At The Disco.

And yes the interviews are probably a little too short. I couldn't really think of much for Payton to ask and I didn't want to drag it out too far.  
Also based on the helpful comments over on AO3, I've realized that Payton's title was incorrect. It has thus been changed from agent to detective.

Next week: Chapter 3 - How Does It Feel To Be A Ghost?


	3. How Does It Feel To Be A Ghost?

**Chapter 3: How Does It Feel To Be A Ghost?**

Danny groaned, slumping into a free seat at the table at the Nasty Burger. Sam and Tucker shared an inquisitive glance with each other, shrugged, and then Sam kicked Danny's shins. Before he could protest, Tucker cut in with the question they both wanted to ask.

"What's got you so riled up man?"

Danny glared at Sam, luminescent green bleeding into his blue irises, but huffed out an answer anyway. "The whole thing with that corpse that they found in the woods is what's up."

"Danny, you can't blame yourself for everything criminal that happens in this city," Sam attempted to soothe him, but her success was rather limited.

"It's not just that they found that body, it's..." he trailed off, biting his lip in thought. "The police interviewed the entire Fenton family yesterday. Like, all of us, separately."

Tucker quirked an eyebrow at the news, and he could see Sam doing the same. Simultaneously they asked, "Why?"

Danny shrugged as the green finally left his eyes. "Dunno. They asked a bunch of standard questions, if we had heard of it and stuff like that. Not sure why they asked _us_, though."

Sam's eyes suddenly lit up, and she snapped her fingers. She looked like she suddenly understood _everything_. Tucker couldn't help but nudge her. "Looks like _someone_ figured it out."

She nodded, and spoke with extreme confidence. "The Accident."

Tucker frowned at her, and Danny reeled back with a similar expression on his face. "The accident?"

"How is that related to the police interviewing the Fentons to ask about a body buried in- Oh."

Danny turned to face him, an increasingly agitated expression on his face. "I still don't get it."

"Danny, do you remember when you first came out of the Portal?" Sam spoke with a gentle voice, clearly hoping to calm him down.

None of them liked to talk about that day. It was easier to forget about it, to only think of Danny's powers without remembering their origin.

"Uh, yeah? I came out as a ghost, and we were all really confused because you didn't realize that I was me, and-" Tucker saw his eyes widen as realization struck. "Oh, _crud._"

Seeing the situation spiral downward, Tucker decided that this situation needed some cheering up, stat. He slung an arm over Danny's shoulders, grinning widely. "See, this is why we call you clueless." Danny answered with a huff, shoving the arm away again, but didn't say anything. Tucker could see the corners of his mouth twitch up, though. Mission successful!

Sam rolled her eyes at their shenanigans, but the fond smile on her face told them how she really felt. "Alright, so we've established that the body that the police found is probably Danny's. Now what?"

Tucker shrugged helplessly. Danny groaned and shoved his face back into the tabletop. "Ignore it and hope that the situation resolves itself?"

"_Danny_." The chastising tone of voice was rewarded with a groaned _"Sam"_.

"Seriously dude, they must've identified the body already, otherwise they wouldn't have come to the Fentons. So they're probably gonna interview you again to figure out how you're still around if they found your corpse."

"So then what? Tell them about what happened in the lab that day? Because I doubt that _that_ will go over well."

"Danny, you're a teenager. Rebellion is kind of what we're known for, you know?" Sam supplied. Tucker muttered an "especially you" under his breath and was rewarded with a cutting glare from Sam. Worth it.

The boy in question shrugged. "I don't know, Sam. You say it like I should just clam up and refuse to answer their questions, but I don't think that they'll like that either."

"Dude, you'll be fine. If they call you back for more interviews, just evade their questions or something, and we'll work on a solution for this whole thing. Who knows, maybe they'll just give up." Danny's expression suggested that he didn't believe it, but Tucker's apparently-endless confidence seemed to help ease his worries.

"Yeah, and don't just evade their questions either. Question them back! Ask them _why_ they want to know whatever they're asking. Make them uncomfortable!" Sam's eyes lit up with a passionate fire, and Danny cringed back from her.

"I don't think that I'm comfortable with how excited you are about this whole thing."

Tucker huffed out a laugh. "Me neither dude, but that's Sam for you." The combat boot impacting his shin did little to spoil his mirth.

"So, the plan is for me to be too stubborn to answer their questions, and then hope that they'll give up or something?"

Sam shrugged at him. "Yeah, basically."

Danny rolled his eyes, but then nodded, a determined expression on his face. "Alright, let's do that. If it comes to that. Which it will, because that's just how my life goes."

"Yep!" Tucker grinned at him, popping the 'p' as he spoke.

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Detective Payton watched as the ghost passed by him to enter the interrogation room, and followed suit. He had to admit that the specter was incredibly convincing, both in appearance and in the way it acted.

Unfortunately, that only made his job harder.

Since the last interview his team had gone through every option they could think of to identify if the ghost was Daniel Fenton or not. In the end they had come to the conclusion that there was no way of telling. By now, the specter had spend over two-and-a-half years pretending to be Daniel. There was no knowledge, nothing they could ask for, that the ghost couldn't have known by now.

They had concluded that the only way was to get him to confirm his existence as a ghost. From there they hoped to find out everything the spirit knew about the death of Daniel Fenton, which in turn could prove whether the spirit _was_ Daniel or not.

The boy sat down in the same chair as last time, shortly glancing at the reflective mirror before settling his gaze on Payton. He then, with a strangely purposeful air about him, laid his arms on the table in front of him, setting down his chin in the palm of one of his hands, eyes half-lidded and with a bored expression on his face.

Payton quirked an eyebrow at the boy, but dismissed the behavior in favor of moving over to the second chair.

"Why did you ask me to come back?" The tone was more petulant than last time, and, combined with the slumped positioning, made the ghost look even more like a stereotypical teenager. Did the ghost suspect that they knew, and was it trying to act more convincingly? Or was he just a teenager acting up?

Cursing his lack of experience with these kind of situations, Payton instead focused on the maybe-teenager to answer his query. "We had more questions to ask you."

"Yeah? Why couldn't you have asked them last time?" He raised an eyebrow at Payton, still supporting his head with the arm he had propped on the table. His eyes were half-lidded, but underneath they were sharp.

Payton rewarded the obstinate behavior with a reprimanding glare, but it went unheeded. "The questions are based on a recent development in the case."

The boy stiffened for a split-second, but before Payton had the chance to react he relaxed again. With a slightly too casual air, the boy shrugged. "Fair enough, but I still don't see why you're asking _me_."

"As mentioned last time, the case involves a teenager."

"So?" the boy dismissed, flapping the hand that wasn't supporting his head in the air. "There are a lot of teenagers in this city. Why am I special enough to get interviewed for this case? And not once, but twice?"

Payton glared at him again, but the ghost once again ignored him. Instead Payton settled for rolling his eyes, resisting the urge to huff in annoyance. "We were already interviewing your parents, so asking you to come the first time was a logical choice. As for this time," he smirked at the boy, "well, you already know the details of the case that the public can't know. Better to ask someone to come back than to risk another person with the details, no?"

The boy eyed him with a suspicious frown on his face, but eventually nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Although I do wonder what kind of _details_ you've found that would involve questioning a _random teenager_ that has nothing to do with the case."

Payton made a clicking sound with his tongue. "Perhaps, mister Fenton, we're not questioning a _random_ teenager." He made sure to keep his eyes on the boy as he said it, hoping to catch the split-second reaction.

The ghost flinched, but settled back into his original position so quickly that Payton almost missed it. His eyes remained half-lidded, but his gaze sharpened even further, filled with suspicion.

Payton filed the behavior away as further proof of this ghost _knowing_ about the death of Daniel Fenton, even if he wasn't directly involved.

"Oh yeah?" the boy asked, his voice a mix of skepticism and accusation. "What are you trying to say? That I'm somehow involved in the death of a kid my age?"

Turning around to watch the boy via the reflection in the window, Payton hummed. "Maybe we are."

The ghost snorted, finally pulling himself into a more upright position, an incredulous expression on his face. "You're joking. I thought you guys thought a ghost was responsible, not a frigging 14-year old."

"I never said that we suspected you to be the one responsible." Payton turned back around to face him. "Unless you're claiming otherwise?"

"What, no! Of course I didn't kill anybody!" the boy spluttered, frown melting off of his face in favor of confusion. "But if you're not accusing me of being responsible, and I obviously can't be the victim because I'm not dead, then what _do_ you suspect me of?"

Payton gave the boy a pointed look. "Look, the game's over, okay? You're not fooling me or any of my officers anymore. Just tell us the truth."

He huffed, rolling his eyes, before slumping back into his chair, apparently falling back into his role of being a bull-headed teenager. "You're not making any sense, and I don't know what you're talking about."

Payton resisted the urge to snap at him, instead running through possible retorts. He had tried just about every way he could think of to push the ghost into admitting the truth, and he had already pretty much told the ghost that they already knew. He had reached his wits' end, and decided to throw all subtlety out of the window, going for the direct route instead.

He set his hands on the table, leaning closer to the boy as he growled his admission. "Dammit boy, we _know_ you're a ghost."

The specter, in answer, jerked back from the table, eyes blown wide with barely hidden fear.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about," he stammered out. "Me, a ghost? That's- That's crazy."

Payton sighed deeply, rubbing his fingers in his eyes. How could a ghost be clever enough to be so convincingly _human_, and simultaneously be so stupid that it didn't realize that it couldn't talk its way out of this?

"Look, we identified the body as Daniel Fenton's. That means that you," he poked the boy in the chest with his finger, "are either Daniel's ghost, or you're some spirit playing pretend."

The ghost scowled and swatted away the finger, speaking with venom dripping from his voice. "I'm no _pretender_."

Not quite the breakthrough that Payton had hoped for, but at least the boy wasn't denying that he was a ghost anymore. He wasn't sure how he felt about the admission that he was Daniel, though. Why hadn't the boy told anyone about what happened to him?

"So then why not tell us who killed you? Because I gotta tell you kid, when we asked you about the body last time, you looked ready to murder whoever did it."

Daniel hunched in on himself, blushing, with embarrassment of all things clear on his face. "I… forgot."

Payton froze, his brows raising up so far he was pretty sure that they had merged into his hairline. "You _what_?"

The boy shrunk in even further. "I forgot about the body," he said, rubbing the back of his neck in what had to be a nervous gesture.

Blinking at him, Payton straightened up. "You _forgot_ that you died?"

"Not that I died!" Daniel clarified, "Just- Just where we left the body."

Payton groaned, sinking into the second chair, and buried his face in his hands. "You're joking. Can you at least tell us who did it? Who was this 'we'?"

The boy smiled sheepishly, still rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, it was an accident. And my friends and I, we just kind of, uh, panicked. So we buried the body and then just kind of forgot about it?"

Lifting his head from his hands again, Payton set his weary gaze on Daniel. "Well, we're gonna need official statements from you and your friends. And then we'll have to inform your parents."

"Wait, no, you can't! They're ghost hunters! Why do you think we decided not to tell anybody?!" Daniel scrambled up, the panicked look back on his face.

"Hey, calm down." Payton made some vague hand motions, attempting to coax the boy back into his seat. "Look, it's just protocol, alright?" he attempted to soothe, but Daniel glared at him.

"Really, you have a protocol for 'a kid dies in an accident and comes back as a ghost'?"

Payton grunted wordlessly, but thought back of his observations of the Fentons. "Kid, just calm down, okay? I promise you that it'll be fine, your parents clearly love you."

Daniel huffed, but slumped back into his seat. "Fine, so what now? Official statements from the three of us, and then? Gonna officially declare me dead? Send me off to the Ghost Zone? Set ghost hunters on me to make sure I don't turn malevolent?"

Payton resisted the urge to growl, instead settling for a fierce glare, but the boy ignored him once more.

"Well, if Phantom hasn't kicked you out of the city then you're probably fine to stay." Daniel snorted in answer, but gave no further reaction, nor did he respond to Payton's quirked eyebrow. A curious reaction, but he had more important things to focus on.

"As you guessed, we don't have protocol for this. Most people outside Amity don't know ghosts exist. Hell, most people _in_ Amity don't even know that they could pass for living as well as you apparently can." The boy muttered something under his breath, but Payton didn't catch what he said, and instead opted to ignore it.

"So, we'll take your statements, including the _full_ explanation of your death, and then we'll talk with your parents. My team and I will talk with you and your family to figure out what we'll do next. How does that sound?"

Daniel shrugged somewhat listlessly. "I guess it's okay. But for the full explanation you'll have to wait until my friends get here, since I can't remember everything. Since it involves, you know, being dead, and all that."

Payton snorted at the sarcastic tone, pulling himself out of his seat. "Yeah, alright. In that case, we're going to move to a conference room so we can all talk. And we're going to need to know who these mystery friends of yours are, so we can call them in."

Daniel nodded and stood up as well, following detective Payton out of the room.

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And so Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley were guided into a conference room at the police station, where they were met by several officers, a medical examiner, and a more-than-slightly panicking Danny Fenton.

The two of them shared a glance before sitting down next to the boy, laying their hands on his shoulders in a show of solidarity. Several of the people present raised their eyebrows at this, but no one said anything.

The boy visibly relaxed.

Payton ended up breaking the silence by clearing his throat, drawing everyone's attention to where he was standing.

"Well, I suppose it might be best to start with introductions. I'm detective Payton, and I'm leading the investigation regarding the body found in the woods. These are the members of my team who are directly involved in the case." He waved his hand in the general direction of the other cops, silently encouraging them to pick up where he left off.

Rosie answered his plea, standing up from her chair. "I'm officer Carver. I suppose that I've been the skeptic of the case." She glanced at detective Payton, but as he made no move to interrupt, she sat down again.

Mike licked his lips, and then stood up. "And I'm officer Milligan. I guess I was the one who suggested, y'know, the possibility that a ghostly doppelganger was involved. Since we somehow found the body of a kid who was still present in the city." He shrugged, somewhat awkwardly, and then promptly fell back into his seat.

The medical examiner rolled her eyes at the young man, but sighed and moved out of her seat as well. "And I'm doctor Beckett. I'm the medical examiner."

The three teens held a short and silent conversation, compromised entirely out of split-second glances, before Tucker stood up. "Tucker Foley, at your service. That's T.F., as in-"

He yelped as the other two pulled him back into his chair, interrupting his own sentence. The team hovered, uncertainly, but Sam shoved Tucker further down into his seat as she stood up.

"And I'm Sam Manson. Not, under any circumstances, Samantha." She glared at the people present, making sure every single one got the message, before she sat down again.

Daniel glanced around the room, but remained seated as he spoke up, voice wavering slightly. "And I'm, uh, Danny Fenton." He shrugged, somewhat helplessly. "But I think everyone here already knew that. Sort of."

"Right," Rosie hummed, "the ghost of the dead kid."

Sam moved as if to answer, but Danny laid his hand on her arm and she settled down again. Payton would have suspected him of using some kind of ghostly power, except that every single interaction between the three clearly showed that they were extremely close. There likely was no need for special powers.

Really, every interaction between the three showed how close they were. To Payton, it felt like further proof that this was, in fact, Daniel as a ghost. There was no way that his friends would've let him be replaced.

"So now that introductions are out of the way, we would like to know more about how a teenager died two years ago, with no one informing the police or the parents of said teen."

Sam and Tucker shared another glance, as if quietly debating who would speak up first. Apparently Sam somehow won, as the boy cleared his throat and spoke. "Right, uh. How much do you know?"

"Not much," Beckett admitted. "We know that Daniel – sorry, _Danny – _died roughly two years ago, and that his body was badly burned. We know that you two were somehow involved, or at least were present when it happened. And we know that it was an accident. We can also assume that Danny became a ghost almost immediately, since he wasn't missing for long enough to raise concerns."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right. But I'm guessing that you want a full description of the accident?"

"Yes please," Payton replied.

Once more, it was Tucker who took the lead. "Right, so we all know that the Fentons have been inventing all kinds of crazy stuff since _way_ before the ghosts ever showed up. They had strict rules for the lab, though. No one was allowed to be down there without supervision and all that."

"But I wanted a photo of one of their new inventions, even though it didn't work, so we snuck in while the Fentons were out," Sam continued. "I wanted a picture with Danny in it as well, so Tuck and I convinced him to check it out from closer."

Hesitantly, Danny followed up. "I uh, I tripped and hit the invention. It turned on and… I guess electrocuted me?"

"The machine gave off a lot of light, so Sam and I couldn't see anything. When it turned off again, there were two people where Danny had been."

"One was lying on the floor, still smoking. It was…" She shivered. "It was horrific to see, and I can't imagine that it looked much better when you dug it up. The other… Well, we hadn't seen anything like it, back then."

Tucker followed up. "But we could guess, based on context clues. Nowadays, we've dealt with enough ghosts to be able to recognize one instantly. But the accident, it happened before we had ever seen a ghost."

All three remained quiet for a moment, as if trying to figure out what to say next. It was Payton who broke the silence, however.

"You're saying that Danny instantly became a ghost, but that he didn't look like he did when he was alive? Like he does now?"

The boy in question was the one who answered. "We- We think that it was because of the invention. An unintended side-effect. Dying in contact with ectoplasm, or something."

Payton hummed, then quirked an eyebrow at the three teens. "And the more ghostly appearance?"

"Well..." Tucker paused, licked his lips, then tried again. "He looked like a pretty typical ghost, I guess. But when he realized what had happened he just kind of, I dunno how to describe it, changed?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "He changed back almost instantly, looking like nothing had ever happened. He's still pretty cold, and his vitals are kind of… off, but it's convincing enough."

Seeing everyone's gazes settle on him, Danny shrugged and put on a sheepish smile. "I don't really remember what I did, though. I wasn't even aware of it at the time, didn't know I looked different until after I changed and Sam and Tucker pointed it out."

"So you got into a terrible accident, straight-up _died_, and decided to keep it secret from your parents?" Rosie questioned. "Why?"

The boy started rubbing his neck, a nervous gesture that Payton remembered from their previous conversation. His friends clearly recognized it as well, as they sympathetically bumped shoulders with him and offered him comforting smiles.

"Well, there were two reasons, really. I wasn't ready to move on yet, for one. I mean, I was fourteen! I wanted to live my life a little longer, even if I wasn't really alive anymore."

He licked his lips, hesitating for a moment, and then continued. "And I guess I was afraid of what my parents would think. I mean, they're ghost hunters! And at the time, no one had any proof of the existence of ghosts. Heck, my parents hadn't even _seen_ a ghost yet, and there I was, a ghost!" He shivered momentarily, but calmed down as his friends wrapped their arms around his shoulders.

"I guess I was afraid that their scientific curiosity would outweigh the fact that I was their son."

Seeing that he was done, Sam cleared her throat. "So yeah, we decided that if Danny could blend in so well, then no one had to find out about what happened until he wanted them to know. So we borrowed some of the stuff from the shed, took the body to the woods, and, well, buried it."

"And then we got so distracted by, y'know, figuring out what being a ghost meant for Danny that we kind of… forgot?" Tucker offered them an uncertain smile.

Payton frowned at this. "What do you mean, 'figuring out what being a ghost meant'?"

"Well…" Danny hesitated. "It's not like you get a manual when you die, y'know? Ghost have all kinds of powers, but no one ever discusses how they _use_ and _control_ those powers."

Tucker snorted, apparently attempting to stifle laughter. "Yeah, he spend a lot of time going intangible at the worst moments those first few months. Got a permanent ban at school for handling glassware, since he kept dropping everything."

"Not to mention the incidents where he would phase through the floor, or the chair he was sitting on, or his bed." Sam grinned at the boy, who huffed somewhat peevishly in answer.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Can't imagine you would have done much better."

"Well, regardless of the circumstances at the time, Mr. Fenton," Payton cut in before the three could lose themselves in their squabbling, "We're going to have to inform your parents, and then figure out a plan for your future. No matter how well you can blend in among the living, you can't keep doing this forever."

The boy nodded, somewhat uncertainly. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Does anybody else know? Besides these two, of course." Payton gestured broadly at the other teens as he spoke.

"Uh, yeah. My sister knows."

"Really? Of everyone you _could_ have told, the only one you told is your sister?" Rosie quirked a questioning eyebrow at the boy.

"Well, I didn't _tell_ her, per se." Seeing the continued questioning gazes, he added, in a more defensive tone. "She caught me doing something ghostly, so I had to explain it to her."

"That explains why she was so defensive during the interviews," Mike chimed in.

"And it makes our job easier as well, since we won't have to tell her." Payton turned to look at the teenagers. "Mr. Foley, Miss Manson, you're both free to leave. Mr. Fenton, you'll be joining me and officer Carver on a visit to your parents."

Danny groaned, but didn't put up any protests. His friends nudged him, offering him hopeful smiles, which he gratefully accepted. Eventually the two left, and Danny dragged himself out of his chair.

"Well, let's get this over with, then."

* * *

**AN:** Title from Sweetie Little Jean by Cage the Elephant. Also, we're finally reaching the less OC-heavy content! Getting content from the POV of our actual characters! Incredible!

This chapter also contains some of my favorite quotes from Unearthed. Rewriting the entire thing just to re-use Payton's incredulous "You _forgot _that you died?" was absolutely worth it. Honestly that entire conversation was something I really liked in the original, hence why it's copied over almost exactly for Disinterred. Don't change what isn't broken and all that.

Next week: Chapter 4 - And There Will Be Nowhere I Can Run


	4. And There Will Be Nowhere I Can Run

Now you might've noticed that today isn't Wednesday. That's because I'm uploading a bonus chapter this week. Hooray! I officially finished writing Disinterred last night (barring, of course, editing and stuff) - which means that I can also confirm that at 15 chapters, this story will be just over 50k words long. Eesh. (and even longer on FFnet because this website also counts author notes)  
Anyway, here's a celebratory extra chapter. Because I'm really excited about finishing this monster of a fanfic.

* * *

**Chapter 4: And There Will Be Nowhere I Can Run**

The ride back to FentonWorks was quite possibly the worst car ride Danny had ever experienced. The driving itself was fine, nothing like the driving he was used to.

No, it was the knowledge of what was to come that tainted the drive over.

He felt like he was heading towards the gallows, ice-cold dread pooling inside him. And the slowly rising guilt he felt over lying to the cops wasn't helping, either.

It had been for their own sake, mostly. The truth was just so… so _unbelievable_, so ridiculous. He doubted that they would have believed him if he _had_ told them the truth. No, it was better to play along. And clearly Sam and Tucker agreed, as they had followed along with the lies as well. He just hoped that it wouldn't come back to bite him.

Which, more than likely, it _would_. He wasn't sure how, yet, but he knew how these things tended to go. Ever since the Accident things just kept going wrong.

And, honestly. Everything about this situation was _begging_ for things to go wrong. There was no positive outcome to this whole mess, not really. Even if, from here on out, everything went perfectly… It still wouldn't be _good_. His parents would _know_, at least partly.

And the police thought him _dead_. Even if (_if!_) his parents accepted him… What then? Even if the police wouldn't kick him out because _Phantom_ hadn't kicked him out, they still saw him as a ghost! And ghosts… ghosts didn't go to school. They didn't get jobs.

They didn't get to live.

So Danny didn't think it likely that the police would let _him_ carry on with his life, either. Unless he admitted the truth to them.

Which probably would just get him in even _more_ of a mess.

So, yeah. The combined force of his dread and his guilt was starting to get overwhelming.

Danny tried to focus on calming himself down. He took a deep, if somewhat shaky, breath. Tried to clear his thoughts, to stay in the present.

_Calm down Fenton_, he bit at himself. _You've faced off against ghosts like Pariah Dark, but you're scared of your own parents? They love you, they'll accept you, and it'll be fine. __They don't even know you're Phantom! They have no reason to hate you!_

Despite his own assurances, and those of the cops accompanying him, Danny still felt danger loom over him. He was sure his parents would accept him, ghost or not. They had done so before, in other timelines. When his dark alternate future attacked, and with Freakshow. Hell, even his weird alternate-timeline parents that didn't even _know_ _him_ accepted him!

But… His parents were volatile. Quick to react to danger. The upcoming conversation had to be handled carefully, the news broken gently. If he had been given more time, he would have called Jazz, so she could try to disarm their parents. At the very least, she could have acted like a protective barrier.

Unfortunately everything had happened so quickly that he hadn't had a chance to contact her. The whole thing at the police station had been so overwhelming that he hadn't really thought of what was going to happen, not until he sat down in the car. Well, not until they started driving and he finally got a chance to work through everything that had happened.

And that had allowed the reality of the upcoming conversation to settle in, which had led to his current situation of… well, everything. He just hoped that the officers knew what they were doing. The Fentons and their hostile reactions to ghosts were known throughout all of Amity Park, so surely detective Payton would know to handle the conversation with care. Right?

He was broken out of his introspection when the bright neon sign of FentonWorks came into sight. They had reached his home, simultaneously all too soon, and not soon enough.

Danny followed the cops to the front door, still trying to cork up his overworked emotions. He was so occupied that he didn't even listen to the conversation between the police and his parents. Didn't think about how this must look to them; him being led inside by two cops.

If he had, he would've seen their expressions. Their worry, their fear, their uncertainty. But he didn't.

When they were allowed in Danny simply trailed after them, into the living room, where he slumped into a chair.

He heard detective Payton clear his throat and snapped out of his thoughts, cringing slightly at the worried expressions on his parents' faces. Luckily he was saved from trying to explain himself by detective Payton, who drew the attention back to himself by starting to talk.

"So, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. As you know, we recently found the body of a dead teenager in the woods near Amity Park."

His mom frowned, glancing between the officer and Danny. "Yes. But how is this related to Danny?"

"Well, we successfully identified the body-" Oh no, nope. Too brash. They needed to break this to his parents with more care. "-and we've received statements confirming it," the man just kept talking, completely oblivious to Danny's panicking. He tried to catch Payton's attention, but only succeeded in catching officer Carver's before Payton uttered the damning words.

"The body belongs to your son, Daniel Fenton."

Danny froze up. His fingers dug into the armrests of the chair with almost enough force to tear them, as he anxiously gazed at his parents. His mental cursing fell silent, the overwhelming dread finally washing away, taking all his other emotions with it until he just felt numb.

The expressions on his parents' faces hardened. Their hands shifted to reach towards the anti-ghost weapons they carried, and _yep_, this was going exactly as he feared. But he stayed still, frozen in place. He could see, from the corner of his eye, that the two cops were silently communicating. But he ignored it in favor of watching his parents.

The moment was broken when his mother swung up an ecto-gun, which was swiftly knocked aside by officer Carver.

The shot just barely missed Danny, so close that he could feel the pulsing energy whiz by. He panicked and went intangible on instinct, driven by years of ghost hunting, and fell through the chair.

He hadn't intended to show off his ghost powers, not yet… But he guessed that he had no choice anymore.

"_A dirty ghost replaced our son! Some filthy piece of ectoplasm killed our Danny and replaced him!"_

He hit the floor behind the chair, crouching to use it as cover. The roaring voice of his dad was _loud_, but Danny barely heard it. The sound of his blood rushing muted everything else. The thudding of his heart was overpowering.

"_Please calm down! We assure you that no ghost killed your son-"_

He ignored the shouting match between the cops and his parents momentarily to focus on himself. He could feel adrenaline bubbling up. His core released ghostly energy into his body in answer, and he was struggling to stop himself from transforming. Could barely stop the brilliant white sparks from forming.

"_And how can you be so sure?! It's been pretending to be our son for _lord_ knows how long, how do you know it didn't lie about-"_

He blocked out the rest of his mom's yelling as he pulled the energy back into himself as much as possible. He managed to restrain the urge to transform, but he was fairly sure that his eyes were glowing green nonetheless. If the cops saw they would probably ask him about it… but it was better than a full-out shift.

Finally, he allowed himself to focus back on the events happening. His parents were still shouting, but he had heard them slinging insults at Phantom enough to tune it out. A rather sad thought, really. But he would work with whatever he had, at least for the moment.

Danny hesitated, uncertain of what he should do next. He knew that if he had come on his own, he would have fled, but the cops likely wouldn't take that well. They might have believed him, and Sam and Tucker, when they told the story about his accident, but still. Ghosts were suspicious, and a ghost that ran from police intervention… That was just asking for trouble, really.

He bit his lip, uncertain, before deciding that he had to somehow inform the cops that he wasn't sticking around for this any longer. Surely they would understand that he wouldn't stay? The situation had become too volatile, and he didn't want to get shot. That was okay, right?

Glancing around the chair, Danny managed to catch the eye of detective Payton. He jerked his head towards the door and blinked out of sight for a short moment, trying to communicate his intentions to the man without alerting his parents.

Thankfully, Payton understood what Danny meant. Or well, Danny thought he did, because the man nodded almost imperceptibly. He _did_ seem a little thrown off, but Danny wasn't sure what had caught the man off-guard; the volatile reaction from his parents, the sudden change in eye-color, or the display of his ghost powers?

That last one, probably. Almost everyone who knew about his ghostly abilities was thrown off when he used them in human form. Apparently it was _unnerving_ to see someone so human do things only ghosts could do. He never really thought about it like that. From the start, the lines had been blurred. He couldn't count how many times he had almost gotten caught because his powers activated in human form.

Danny took Payton's nod as the dismissal it probably was and turned himself invisible. He lingered for another moment, watching the chaos in the living room.

His parents and the police were in the middle of a heated discussion. Neither side could convince the other, or so it seemed. Danny knew with certainty that the police wouldn't be able to convince his parents. Jazz would have to take care of it when she came home.

He turned himself intangible and launched himself at the nearest wall, phasing through it.

Once outside, Danny looked around to make sure no one could see him, before releasing his invisibility and intangibility. He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths to calm down again. He had to stop and think for a moment, figure out what to do next.

Feeling marginally calmer, he checked if he still had his phone on him. Thankfully he did, and he shot a quick text in his group chat with Sam and Tucker, asking if he could stay over at one of their houses. He was sure that they would accept, if they could. They had been there during the conversation at the police station, after all, and knew that Danny was going to reveal (part of) his secret to his parents.

He stuffed his phone back into his pocket before either of his friends could answer, though. He could feel his emotions threatening to overwhelm him again. To some degree he was used to his parents talking bad about ghosts, about _Phantom_. But now they were talking about _him_. Actual _Danny Fenton_ him.

And it hurt. Even if they meant well. If they only wanted to protect him. It still _hurt_.

His core released even more ghostly energy in response to his fluctuating emotions, and Danny groaned.

No, it was better if he went on patrol first. He had to blow off some steam, vent away some of this adrenaline and energy.

He let go of the reins on his ghostly core, letting the cold power flood over him. The crackling blue-white energy circled him, and once it faded away, Danny _Phantom_ was left standing where Danny _Fenton_ had been.

Danny glanced back at the house, _his_ house, before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. Instead he turned himself invisible once more, then launched off into the air. He regained his visibility again somewhere in the clouds, speeding away from the alley where he had been.

* * *

After a short bout of flying and an unusually vicious fight against the Box Ghost, Danny settled on a random rooftop. He pulled out his phone, grimacing at the mass of messages from both of his friends. Apparently they had gotten worried.

Maybe he shouldn't have send a message asking to stay over at their places before going quiet. Whoops.

He sat down on the edge of the roof, legs hanging down. Then he texted back an apology, explaining that he had to go relieve some tension.

As always, his friends were more than understanding. Within moments, Sam offered up her place for Danny to stay.

'_my parents hate yours,'_ she texted. _'no way that the Fentons will come looking for you'_

He had to admit that her reasoning was sound. Unfortunately, there was a bigger problem with that idea.

'_true,'_ he send back. _'but your parents also hate _me_.'_

Sam started typing something back, but Tucker interfered before she got her message done. _'besides, he's always welcome to come over for dinner at my place. my mom would love to have him.'_

'_fine'_ was what Sam ended up texting back. She must've deleted her previous text when she received Tucker's. _'but i'm coming over too.'_

Danny was glad to hear it. He still wasn't feeling great, even after venting some of his emotions on the Box Ghost. But his friends… They always found a way to make things better.

And he could really use that right now.

'_tuck, can you let your parents know that i'll stay for dinner? i don't think that it'll be safe to come home by dinnertime.'_ A sad message to send, but the sad truth. He wasn't sure when Jazz would come home, but he highly doubted that she could get his parents to change their mind _that_ quickly.

'_will do,' _Tucker replied. _'come over soon, ok?'_

'_i'll fly another lap around amity and then i'll be there.'_ Danny waited another moment as Sam finished up her message.

'_i'm on my way now. see you soon danny.'_

He smiled at the support of his friends, even if he wasn't quite feeling it. Not yet. But that would come, once he got over there. He was sure of it.

First he needed to release some more frustration. And flying… Flying had always been his favorite power. There was something _freeing_ about being up in the sky.

Danny stuffed his phone back into one of the pockets of his jumpsuit and got up. He balanced on the edge of the building for a moment before letting himself fall.

His flight took over before he hit the ground and he zipped away.

* * *

Not much later, Danny rung the bell of the Foley household. Mrs. Foley let him in with a smile, and he quickly made his way over to Tucker's room, where both of his friends were already waiting.

Danny listlessly dragged himself over to a nearby beanbag. He sunk into the seat with a groan, burying his head in his hands. The dread he had been feeling ever since leaving the police station had not only returned, but had also smoothly transitioned back into panic. He was starting to feel worn out from the emotionally heavy day.

"So, what happened? Because we just kind of assumed that things went wrong, but you haven't told us anything yet."

Danny groaned again, acknowledging that Sam had spoken but delaying his need to answer for a moment longer. Eventually he dragged his hands off of his face, however, so he could properly answer her question.

"Well, long story short, that's pretty much what happened. Payton and Carver came with me, they decided to tell my parents themselves, but my parents flipped out. And since they were trying to shoot me I left." He shrugged, trying to somehow wordlessly express the mess of emotions he was feeling.

Thankfully his friends were adept both at reading his emotional state _and_ at dealing with said emotional state. Tucker rolled over on his bed to look at him, and Sam moved her chair closer to him so she could lay a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Danny, calm down. Things might seem like a mess right now, but everything will be fine," Sam assured him. Danny felt his warring emotions settle down, and he smiled hesitantly at Sam.

"Yeah dude, you've got the police on your side and everything! And even if they can't get through to your parents, Jazz can deal with them when she gets home."

"I guess so." Danny sighed. "I'm just worried about this whole thing. Even if things get figured out with my parents, I can't just go back to how things were. I mean, the police think that I'm _dead_."

"Danny, we'll figure something out, I promise. We can always tell them about you being Phantom, that should warm them up to you a little more." Sam smiled at him, a warm and comforting gesture that didn't suit her goth nature.

"But-"

"Dude, don't," Tucker interrupted. "You've done so much for this city. You're allowed to benefit from it for once."

"I- I guess." Danny offered them an apologetic smile. "Sorry for freaking out so much on you guys, it's just..."

"It's been a long few days, we know," Sam soothed him, now rubbing his shoulder with the hand that still laid there. "We'll deal with it, like we deal with everything."

Tucker rolled to the side of the bed, slinging his feet down to settle them on the floor. "And you know what you need? A hearty Foley family dinner!"

Danny laughed, eyes crinkling with amusement. "Yeah, alright. Are we still on for patrol afterwards?"

"Please, can't you just _not_ worry for like, a second?" Seeing that Danny was about to protest, Sam continued speaking. "We'll go on patrol, _like always_. But the city won't burn down just because you're taking an evening for yourself, okay?"

He sighed but didn't protest. If Sam had her mind made up about something, it was almost impossible to go against her, and he didn't have the energy for it right now. Instead he dropped his head backwards, flattening himself into the beanbag, and pressed his hands against his eyes.

_Everything will be fine_, he mentally reprimanded himself. _Don't worry so much. You've dealt with things way worse than this, and you've always come out on top. This is no different._

But for some reason, the assurances felt hollow, and did little to hold back the ever-present dread.

* * *

**AN (again): **Title for this chapter came from "I Hope I Become A Ghost" by The Deadly Syndrome. And no I definitely didn't pick that song because I thought the title was funny in the context of this story.

I just recently added another 1-1.5k words to this chapter to buff it up to a more respectable level. So far the chapter length has been... variable, but from now on, expect about 3-3.5k words per chapter. Some a little longer, some a little shorter, but that's my word goal.

This Wednesday: Chapter 5 - I'm Still Here, But Not Completely


	5. I'm Still Here, But Not Completely

**Chapter 5: I'm Still Here, But Not Completely**

Several hours later found Danny floating above Sam and Tucker as they zipped through Amity Park on their scooters. The patrol had been rather quiet so far, with few ghostly disturbances. The overall quiet, combined with the cathartic effect of flying and the presence of his friends, had settled Danny's emotional level back to normal.

Just as he considered diving down towards his friends to startle them, Danny felt his phone buzz in a pocket of his jumpsuit. Pulling it out, he saw that Jazz had texted him. She must've returned home and heard about the events of earlier that day.

He stopped, mid-air, to read the message Jazz had send him. From the corners of his eyes he saw that Sam and Tucker had stopped as well. They had probably seen him, and had decided to wait for him to explain.

The text, a rare single text considering that it was send by Jazz, was simple and to the point. '_mom and dad think that a ghost killed danny and replaced him, wtf?'_

Danny couldn't stop the snort that came through, and barely stifled the bitter laughter that followed it. God, what a mess. How did he always get himself into trouble like this, without even trying? The universe must really hate him.

He briefly considered the possibility that there was a ghost controlling this sort of stuff out there, similar to Clockwork, but dismissed the thought almost as soon as it came up. If there _was_ a ghost of fate, then it most likely _is_ Clockwork.

He shook his head to clear the thoughts, deciding that he should probably just go and talk with Jazz in person instead of trying to explain the situation via the phone. He sunk lower to the ground so he could talk with Sam and Tucker more easily, white boots soundlessly hitting the asphalt of the street.

"Apparently Jazz just got home, and has been informed by my parents that a ghost killed and replaced me. So I think I'm gonna fly over real quick so we can talk this entire thing through, preferably _before_ she gets all overprotective older sister on me."

"Dude, I'm pretty sure it's already too late for that."

Elbowing Tucker in the ribs, Sam added. "But you should go anyway. We'll finish up patrol for you."

Danny nodded. "Alright, thanks. I'll meet you back at Tucker's place, okay?"

The other two acknowledged him before turning around and continuing down the street. Danny quickly texted Jazz ('_omw'_) before launching himself back into the air, shooting off towards FentonWorks.

* * *

Not much later, Danny hung (invisibly) outside of Jazz' window. Hesitantly, he knocked. Jazz looked up from whatever she was working on, glanced in his general direction, and then nodded.

Permission to enter thus granted, Danny quickly phased through the window, turning himself visible again once he was inside. He opened his mouth to explain, well, _everything_, but Jazz was faster.

"So, what on Earth is this about?" she snapped at him.

He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. "Well! When the accident happened and I became half-ghost, I may or may not have left behind my old, fully-human body. And since we were kind of, you know, panicking, we decided to bury it in the forest so no one would ever find out what happened."

Jazz stared at him, an incredulous expression on her face. Apparently he had stunned her to the point of speechlessness. He didn't even know it was _possible_ to turn Jazz speechless. Somehow it didn't quite feel like the achievement it should have been.

Apparently Jazz had finally found her voice again, since she chided him. "Why didn't you tell me? I thought we were past lying to each other, Danny."

He hunched up, blushing in embarrassment. "We are! I just… I just kind of forgot?" he muttered the last few words, guilt lacing his voice.

"Oh my God, please tell me you're joking." Her tone was a rather odd combination of appalled and bewildered.

Danny remained quiet. He considered complaining that he wouldn't joke about a situation this serious, but they both knew that he _always_ cracked jokes in situations where he _shouldn't_. It was like, his number one coping mechanism. The less suitable the situation, the more he joked.

Jazz stared him in the eye, then sighed. Apparently she had determined that despite his normal behavior, he was not, in fact, joking.

"Danny, how on _Earth_ did you forget about the fact that you buried _your own corpse_ in the woods?"

He shrugged, somewhat uncertainly. "Look, the Accident was a really confusing time, and then I had to learn to control my ghost powers, and then ghosts started attacking and we just kind of forgot, okay? Now will you please help me explain this to mom and dad so they'll stop shooting at me?"

Jazz looked at him with an expression he couldn't read, but she put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. She didn't even flinch at how cold his ghost form was.

"Of course, little brother. We'll figure this out, okay?"

He hummed, wrapping his own arms around Jazz. They remained like that for some time, and Danny felt the last of his dread and panic melt away. Jazz was here, Jazz would help him. Everything was going to be okay.

The assurances no longer felt hollow, like they had before.

Finally releasing him, Jazz put her hands on her hips, face settling on a determined expression. "So, first things first. How much are you going to tell them?"

"Uh, everything, I guess." He shrugged, biting the inside of his cheek. "Well, except for the Phantom part, they don't need more encouragement to shoot at me."

"You're not going to tell them about Phantom? Are you sure?" She set a scrutinizing gaze on him, and he pointedly ignored her by turning away.

"Jazz…" he sighed, deflating. He shook his head, then turned back to look at her again. "If this goes well I'll tell them, okay?"

She nodded, before cutting back to the original subject. "Alright, so you're going to tell them that you got into an accident with the Portal, and that you instantly became a ghost, and that you freaked out and decided to bury your body and pretend nothing happened. Does that sound about right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. You think that that'll be enough?"

She offered him a smile, and he felt himself calm down even further. "Of course it will be enough. The only reason they freaked out is because they care about you."

Jazz looked him over for a moment longer before her eyes softened again. "Do you have somewhere to stay for tonight?"

"Uh, yeah, Sam and I are sleeping over at Tucker's place." Knowing what she was about to ask, he elaborated. "I've had dinner at his place too. Don't worry Jazz, you're not the only one making sure that I take care of myself."

She huffed and rolled her eyes, but ignored the jab. "Good, good. Come by tomorrow after breakfast and we'll talk this through with mom and dad."

He groaned, grimacing. He knew that he had to talk with his parents. That was the whole _point_ of talking with Jazz. That didn't make the thought of coming over and facing his parents any more appealing.

Seeing his hesitation, Jazz spoke again, with a soothing but somewhat stern tone. "Danny, don't worry about it. Everything will be fine, I promise. Now go and get some sleep, because you need it."

He eyed her for a moment. Sighing, he rubbed in his eyes with his fingers. "Yeah, alright. Thanks, Jazz."

"That's what I'm here for, little brother. Now go, shoo." She made some shooing motions with her hands as she said it. Danny grinned at her before tugging on his invisibility, disappearing from sight.

Jazz watched him leave, before shaking her head, a fond smile on her face.

* * *

The next day, not long after when he would normally have eaten breakfast with his family, Danny found himself hesitating on the steps of his house.

Had this been an ordinary Saturday, he would have been in the kitchen now, breakfast just finished but everyone still lingering around. But, unfortunately, it wasn't a regular Saturday. Hell, Danny didn't know if he would ever have a regular Saturday with his family again.

But no matter how much he wanted to leave, he couldn't. No matter how badly he wanted to put off this confrontation, Jazz was waiting for him. And no matter how much bad everything got, he knew Jazz would come through for him.

He clung onto that thought, took a deep, fortifying breath, and entered the house.

Quiet chattering came from the kitchen, and Danny made his way over. He watched them for a moment from the doorway. They were all sitting at the table, the remnants of breakfast put away. It was a rare occasion, since there weren't even any inventions of his parents' around.

He didn't get long to observe before his dad spotted him, however. The man grinned widely at him, and Danny felt his hopes lift. Maybe his parents had already gotten over him being a ghost?

"Danny-boy!" Jack boomed, but suddenly his face soured, and Danny's hopes were crushed again. Apparently his ever-brilliant dad just _forgot_ about their last interaction. His mother's face also fell, and Danny almost winced at their expressions.

Jazz, however, shot him a warm smile, and grabbed their parents before they could pull out any of their weapons. That didn't stop them from attacking with their words, however.

"What are you doing here, _ghost_?" Maddie hissed. "Haven't you caused us enough pain yet?"

This time Danny actually winced, and Jazz glared at their mother.

"Mom!" she chastised. "I asked Danny to come over, not that it should have been necessary, since he _lives_ here."

"Jazz, honey," their mother tried to soothe her. "That's not your brother. That's some foul ghost playing a sick game of pretend."

"No, _you_ listen to _me_!" Jazz continued to glare, so angry it was almost tangible. "Danny has been a ghost for _two years_, but he never told you. And this is exactly why! And despite knowing that this is how you would react, he _still_ came over to tell you what happened! And you won't even let him!"

It remained silent for a few infinitely long minutes. Both of their parents were visibly working through this new information, processing it- and everything it meant.

"Jazz, you _knew_? How- How long have you known?" Danny had never heard his dad so quiet, and he hated it. He hated everything about this conversation. He could barely stop himself from turning invisible, his emotions churning and stormy. He forced himself to stay focused on the conversation, however.

"I've known pretty much from the start, but he told me about a year ago. And yes, I know the entire story." Jazz looked over at Danny, clearly hoping that he would take over to tell the story.

But Danny could barely pay attention to the conversation, let alone play an actual part in said conversation. Seeing this, Jazz picked up the slack again.

"Do you remember when he had an accident in the lab, in freshman year?"

Their parents glanced at each other, sharing a brief but silent conversation before relaxing a little. "Was that it? Was it- Was it one of _our_ inventions that- that _killed_ our son?"

Danny could hear how close his mom was to tears, and he sighed, inadvertently drawing the attention back to himself. He uncertainly rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, kinda. It was the Portal. I uh, may or may not have turned it on while I was inside." He shrugged at them, smiling sheepishly. "You put the 'on' button on the inside, that's why it didn't work."

"Sufferin' spooks," Jack swore quietly, eyes locked on Danny.

"But if it was the Portal, then how did your," her breath caught for a second, "your body end up in the woods?"

"I- We panicked, okay?" He wrung his hands uncertainly as he spoke. "We didn't know what to do and we didn't know what happened and we were all really freaked out so we decided to just bury my body in the woods and pretend it never happened."

"Oh sweetie," Maddie mumbled, standing up from her chair and walking over to Danny. She touched his face, gently, before pulling him against herself, hugging him. "Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for everything."

Danny stiffened momentarily, before the events sunk in and he wrapped his arms around his mom. "It's- It's okay. It's not your fault." Before he could say more, however, a second pair of arms wrapped around the two of them.

"Oh Danny-boy," his father muttered, and Danny was shocked to see tears forming in his dad's eyes. "I- We-" The man murmured uncertainly, tripping over his own words.

"No, no, don't blame yourselves." Danny pulled himself partially out of the hug so he could look his parents in the eyes. "I don't blame you, okay? Not for anything. None of it is your fault. Not the accident, not the- the events yesterday. None of it. Okay?"

His parents nodded at him, uncertainly, and he nodded back. Finally they broke apart again, and as they smiled at him, Danny found that he couldn't keep the truth to himself any longer.

"Actually," he started, before hesitating. He anxiously licked his lips, and glanced over to see Jazz nodding her approval. Thus steeling his resolve, he cleared his throat and started again. "Actually, there's something else that I need to tell you. Uh, promise you won't freak out?"

"Oh sweetie, of course. You can tell us anything." His mom laid her hand on his shoulder, her smile a little more uncertain but still kind.

He nodded, smiling back, but carefully shook off her hand and stepped away. Then he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, focusing on the feeling of ectoplasm coursing throughout him. He braced himself, then called on his ghostly core, letting its power wash over him. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes again, looking away from his parents.

"I'm, uh. I'm Danny Phantom too. This," he made a vague hand motion towards himself, "is what I actually look like as a ghost."

Suddenly he was drowning in warmth again. His father hugged him, ruffling a hand through his hair. "Look at my son the ghost hunter! I knew you would follow my footsteps!"

Danny grinned at his dad. "Yeah, I guess I had some good role models." Seeing his dads uncertain expression, he winked theatrically.

"Well, I still think that Phantom has done some… questionable things," Maddie trailed off, apprehensively. "But… knowing you as I do, I'm guessing that you can explain all of that?"

"He can, trust me." Jazz cut in, not wanting to ruin to moment for Danny by having him recall those events. "He has told me everything, about all of that and more."

Maddie nodded, and once more smiled warmly at her daughter, and then at her son as well. "Then I must say that I'm proud of my ghost-hunting son as well. My own little superhero, huh?"

She re-joined the hug as well, and Jack grabbed Jazz and pulled her in as well. Danny melted away in the familial love, feeling far happier than he had in a long time.

But he knew that the same didn't go for his parents. They thought that they had _killed _him, for fuck's sake! He said he didn't blame them, and he _didn't_, but it wasn't enough. The guilt would be eating them alive. That was the main reason why he hadn't told them before. After the Reality Gauntlet thing, he knew that they would accept _him_. It was their reaction to _themselves_ he was most afraid of. As long as they thought that they had killed him, they would feel guilty about it.

So what if they knew that they hadn't killed him? After all, he wasn't actually _dead_, was he? So maybe- maybe if he told them, they would be happy too?

And surely if they accepted him as a full ghost, they would accept him as a half-ghost too? It was weird, yes, but they were his parents. They had said it themselves, in that alternate reality. It didn't matter if he was a ghost, or a human, or a little of both.

He took in the moment a little longer, letting the warmth soak into him. Then he phased through the arms holding him in place, grimacing at the startled expressions of his family. He released his hold on his ghost form, allowing the warmth of his human body to roll over him again. It was little compared to the familial warmth he had just given up, but it was better than nothing.

"I-" He hesitated, cleared his throat again. "There's something more. Something else I need to mention as well."

Jazz quirked a questioning eyebrow at him, before she realized what he was going for. She also untangled herself from the group hug, walked over to Danny, and wrapped a supportive arm around his shoulders. He looked at her, uncertainly, but she nodded her approval.

"I'm not- I'm only half ghost."

Silence lingered for a few, uncomfortable seconds. The expressions on the faces of his parents had shifted, an array of emotions that he couldn't decipher playing on their faces.

He bit his lip, glancing at Jazz for strength. Then he took another deep breath, looking his parents in the eyes.

"I'm not actually dead. I'm only half ghost. I, uh. I don't know the exact science behind it and stuff. But that's why I can switch."

"Sweetie," his mom said, softly. "There are all kinds of ghosts who can take on a more human appearance. You don't have to lie, to yourself or to us, okay?"

"But it's- it's different! The ghosts know it too! They call me a halfa, a human-ghost hybrid." He groaned, mussing up his hair with his hands. He had to convince them, somehow. But how?

Suddenly an idea struck him, and he strode towards his parents. He pulled off his moms glove, and placed her bare fingers against his neck.

"Danny, what-"

"Feel it. Feel my heartbeat. Ghosts can't replicate that, can they?"

She opened her mouth, about to protest, but suddenly stilled. Her eyes grew wide. She glanced at Jack, uncertainly, and then back at Danny.

"How?"

He shrugged, offering a sheepish smile. "Like I said, I don't really know how it works. Running theory is that it has something to do with the supercharged ectoplasm in the Portal."

Frowning, Jack inserted himself into the conversation. "So why not tell us from the start? Why make us think you were a ghost?"

Danny shrugged again. "It's… hard to explain. Mostly, I don't tell anyone because it's kind of hard to believe?" He grimaced. "And right after the accident, I _wanted_ to tell you, but I couldn't get my powers to work right so I couldn't prove that I was telling the truth."

His mom finally pulled her fingers away from Danny's neck, slowly putting the glove back on. She frowned as well. "But then what about the body?"

"Well, I'm not a scientist, obviously. And the only other halfa I know of… Well, I'm not really on speaking terms with him, so I couldn't ask him either." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But what I- What _we_ think happened is that my DNA was altered by the ectoplasm. But you can't just _infuse_ a body with ectoplasm, so a new one had to be formed. Or something like that."

"Well, son, how about this," Jack said, pulling out a chair and gesturing for Danny to sit down. "Why don't you tell us exactly what happened, and then we'll figure all of this out together. As a family."

Danny nodded, smiling, and sat down.

"Alright, so it all started two years ago, in August..."

* * *

**AN:** Title is from "Middle Ground" by The Dear Hunter. Also I'm so completely out of it that I almost forgot that today is Wednesday, whoops.

Also look! A double-whammy reveal, one for Jack and Maddie and one for the audience! In Unearthed I kind of accidentally avoided mentioning Danny being half-ghost for most of the story, and looking back, I thought that that was an interesting hook. So for Disinterred I alluded to it but never outright stated it - until this chapter.  
So yeah, that plays into why the Trio aren't traumatized to heck. Besides the fact that it's been 2.5 years since the Accident, it's easier to think of him as just "Danny but with ghost powers" instead of "Danny who died but not really". And maybe that's stupid and not realistic but hey, I never said I understood how emotions work.

Next week: Chapter 6 - Offer Me That Deathless Death


	6. Offer Me That Deathless Death

I would like to point back to the content warnings on this fic, just for this chapter. It is, by far, the darkest and heaviest chapter in Disinterred. The angstiest, so to say. So, yes, all the warnings tags come back. Implied character death, graphic descriptions of corpses, swearing... and general angst.

That having been said, however... This chapter is skip-able. I even spent several days strongly considering just straight-up cutting it out, but decided against it (as you can see). I certainly feel like it adds to the story, but it's not plot-critical. If it's too much, you can skip it and come back for chapter 7.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Offer Me That Deathless Death**

The lights in the lab flickered on, as vivid white as they had always been. In the back of the lab, easily drawing the attention of everyone who entered, stood the Fenton Portal. Or, well, what was supposed to _be_ the Portal. Currently it was more of a tunnel with a complicated technologically sophisticated arch around its entrance.

It had been one of the few projects that his parents worked on that Danny had actually been somewhat excited about. The idea of an alternate dimension filled with ghosts was kind of absurd, yes. But if they _did_ get the portal to work, it would connect to a whole new dimension! Who knew what kind of awesome things they might run into?

But unfortunately, like most of his parents' inventions, the Portal failed to work. It had sparked, once. But that was about it. His parents had tinkered with it for hours, afterwards, but they failed to find the problem. Eventually Jazz had dragged them outside, and Danny had invited Sam and Tucker over. Soon enough they started talking about the Portal, and its unfortunate failure, and his two friends had begged Danny to show it to them.

And so here they were, in the lab, the Portal standing tall but nonfunctional. Tucker had walked closer, inspecting the various pieces of technology, while Sam was eagerly taking pictures of the Portal with her outdated camera. Despite the bright lights already present in the lab, it still lit up occasionally as Sam's camera flashed.

"Hey Danny, you should get closer so I can take a picture with you and the Portal."

He looked over at her, frowning. "I don't know, Sam. It might be dangerous."

A huff came from the other side of the lab, and Tucker looked up from the thermos _(what?)_ he was holding. "Oh come on dude, it'll be fine! It doesn't even work, you've said so yourself."

"Alright, alright, fine!" Danny grumbled. "But if I die, I'm coming back to haunt you."

"Yeah sure, as the weakest ghost ever," Tucker guffawed. "Just get on with it, you big baby."

Danny shot him a glare, but didn't answer. Instead, he walked over to where Sam was waiting by the Portal. He glanced at it, the tunnel seemingly endless and far darker than the lab, before tearing his eyes away and looking at Sam. She quirked an eyebrow at him, carefully looking over the setting, before she shook her head.

"No no, you should put on a jumpsuit like your parents. It'll look good in the photos."

"Ugh, Sam, really? If anyone sees me wearing one of those, I'll never hear the end of it!"

"They even have one in your size!" Tucker interjected from a different corner of the lab than he had been previously. Apparently he had lost interest in the thermos-thing and wandered off. He stepped out of the closet holding a hazmat suit similar to the ones the adult Fentons wore, but it was, in fact, in Danny's size. Unlike the teal and bright orange his parents favored, this jumpsuit was primarily white, although the gloves and boots were black like theirs.

"See, and it's even in a nice neutral color!" Sam added, shoving Danny towards Tucker and following after.

Danny grumbled, but had no further arguments. Instead, he tore the suit from Tucker's hands, pulling it on as quickly as he could.

The suit was clearly made for him, and fairly recently, because it fit perfectly. It was a little uncomfortable, but not overly limiting, surprisingly enough.

He pulled one of the gloves a little straighter and turned towards the Portal. Sam stopped him, however, and grabbed at his chest. "Wha-"

"Hang on," she said, and peeled off a sticker from the jumpsuit. Danny hadn't even seen it was there, and he was glad that she _had_. It was undeniably left there by his dad, a cartoonish depiction of Jack Fenton's face. Sam offered him a grin, pointing at the picture that now stuck to her finger. "You can't go walking around with _that_ on your chest."

Danny rolled his eyes, but silently agreed. Instead he wandered over to the Portal, posing in front of it. "There, I'm posing with the Portal. Take the picture and let's go."

"Smile!" Sam called as Danny was blinded by a flash. He blinked rapidly, before rubbing his eyes.

"Hold on, we should take one with you inside as well."

Danny glared in her general direction, still half blind from the flash. "Sam-"

"Dude, just do as she asks," Tucker interrupted. "You and I both know you're not gonna convince her."

Another glare was shot in the direction of his other best friend before Danny sighed. Tucker was right. He waited a few moments longer, making sure he could at least _mostly_ see, and then turned to enter the Portal. "Fine, fine, I'm going in already."

He hesitated for a moment, but took a deep breath to steady himself and walked in. His fingers carefully trailed the left wall, enough to guide him in the lingering darkness but with no weight behind them. He called out towards his friends, who were crowding around the entrance of the Portal. "How far do you want me?"

"A little further should be fine," Sam called back. "Keep going, keep going..." She was already raising the camera, getting ready to take a picture once Danny got deep enough.

Suddenly the boy tripped, stumbled, and caught his weight on the hand already resting on the wall.

A click, like a button being pressed, resounded through the entire lab.

"_Shi-_" Danny started to swear, but didn't even get to finish before he was cut off by a searingly bright flash.

Sam and Tucker both stumbled away from the entrance of the Portal, hopelessly shielding their eyes from the light. As the light faded away as quickly as it had come, however, it was followed up something far worse.

A terrible, gut-wrenching _scream_ came from the Portal. Neither of them had ever heard anything like it, but the voice was undeniably Danny's. Sam froze in place, incapable of doing anything except glance at Tucker, who seemed to be in the same situation. They could only stand and listen, horrified.

The Portal had lit up, not with the white of the flash but with a vivid green. The bizarre liquid-like substance filled the entire arch, hiding the tunnel behind it, from which the haunting screaming of their best friend still emerged.

The scream cut off as suddenly as it had begun, and the surface of the Portal stirred. The swirling mass seemed to bunch up before splitting away, and Danny fell through it and onto the floor of the lab.

The moment thus broken, Sam and Tucker simultaneously stepped forward, both intending to tend to their _smoking_ best friend, even if they weren't sure _how_. They didn't get far, however, before they were distracted by a second figure emerging from the Portal.

This figure appeared to be a teenager much like themselves, but it was clearly a ghost. It emitted a soft white glow, its hair was white as fresh snow, and it appeared to be dressed entirely in black, but with white gloves and boots.

It had stumbled out of the Portal hunched over, and remained standing in front of it. It was curled in on itself, white gloved hands pressed against its face, but the fingers were splayed far enough to show glowing green eyes. Its gaze was fixated on Danny.

Oh shit, _Danny_. Sam tore her eyes off the ghost and sped towards her best friend, kneeling beside him. She hovered over him awkwardly, hands gliding over him without actually touching him. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know if there was anything she _could_ do. Her friend was burned pretty much beyond recognition, flesh scorched and molten away in various places, and a horrendous mix of red and black where it was left. A few patches of white gleamed, either exposed bone or bits of his hazmat suit that had molten into his skin, but Sam didn't want to look closer and find out which of the two it was.

Sam knew, without a doubt, that Danny was dead. There was no way Danny was still alive, not with the condition his body was in. That didn't stop her from denying it, of course.

"Tucker, come help me with Danny!" she called, turning around to glare him into moving. Tucker wasn't the only one who reacted, however.

The ghost, who up until that point hadn't taken its eyes off of Danny, finally broke out of its fixation and glanced over at her. Its eyes were a haunting acid-green color, the same as the Portal behind it. Sam shivered involuntarily.

Tucker, who had been looking at the ghost, turned to face her as well. "You're joking, right? Sam, I don't think there's anything we can do for him. The fucking- the fucking Portal killed him, man. _We_ killed him."

The ghost, who had looked at Tucker while he spoke, started glancing between the two humans and the dead body, panic growing on its face. Sam would normally feel bad for it, since it was apparently some helpless and confused creature, but right now she had to think of her best friend first.

"Tucker, there has to be something we can do! Just come over here!" she growled at him, fixing him with one of her patented glares. Tucker hesitated for another moment before moving over, but he kept an eye on the visibly panicking ghost.

Sam, however, didn't.

She hadn't even noticed that the ghost had moved until a shadow fell over her, and she started, turning around so quickly that she fell over. The teenage specter stood over her, eyes blown wide and mouth working silently. It wasn't even looking at _her_, but at Danny.

Emboldened by a sudden wave of anger, Sam pushed herself upright and then shoved the ghost away. "Fuck off! Don't you see that we're busy with something far more important than you?!"

The ghost stumbled, tripping over its own legs, and fell to the floor. It looked at her, stunned, mouth hanging open.

By now Tucker had reached her side, and Sam felt the anger flood out of her system again. She turned her back on the ghost, and looked at the body of her best friend, grabbing Tucker's shoulder to turn him as well.

She crouched down to look at Danny again, and Tucker, after hesitating for a moment, joined her. He was still glancing at the ghost every few seconds, but the ghost seemed content to stay seated and gaze back. As long as it would stay out of her way, that was fine with Sam.

Her hands hovered over the body again, and Sam bit her lip, uncertainly. "Come on, there has to be _something_ we can do! He can't just be _dead_!"

"Sam…" Tucker started, casting for words. Before he could think of anything to say, however, a blinding white flash lit up the lab. For a moment, Sam found herself caught in a horrible flashback (a click, a flash, a _scream_), but she managed to snap back to the current moment.

The light faded away almost immediately, and Sam blinked her eyes rapidly, clearing her eyesight again. Under her ever-hovering hands, Danny still laid, unmoving. She glanced over her shoulder, but the Portal, too, remained unchanged. So then what had caused the flash?

Next to her, Tucker gasped, and she followed his gaze to the direction of the ghost.

But sitting on the floor where the ghost had been, moments before, was a regular human teenager. His eyes were still blown wide, although they were now sky-blue instead of vibrant green, and his hair had become glossy black. He was wearing that same _stupid_ jumpsuit, that jumpsuit that _she_ had forced him to wear. And seeing him now, she could suddenly imagine him with his colors inverted, the jumpsuit black with white gloves and his eyes green and-

"Oh, _Danny_," she muttered, still staring at him. He gazed back, blinking somewhat dazedly, eyes darting between her and Tucker. His eyebrows furrowed a little, as if he were confused by something.

Horror suddenly flooded through Sam as she remembered the stories the Fentons always told about ghosts. As Danny's friends, she and Tucker had been subjected to a number of lectures. One of the things that always (_always_) came up was that ghosts _weren't human_. They didn't remember ever _being_ human. Didn't remember anything from their former lives.

And looking at her best friend, sitting on the floor, frowning at her, Sam couldn't help but think that the Fentons were _right_.

But it was so unfair! He looked _exactly_ like he did in life! If he couldn't remember, why did he revert back to how he had looked before? Why did the universe taunt them like this, dangling the image of their best friend in front of them?

Tucker swore under his breath, eyes still locked on Danny's ghost. He clearly remembered the lectures as well, and had also connected the dots.

She bit her lip, hesitating. Then she slowly reached out towards the ghost of her best friend, shuffling over to him with her hand extended in front of her. She approached him as if he were some kind of wild animal, and maybe, in some way, he was. He didn't move, however, just frowned at her as she approached.

Finally, she was kneeled next to him, and she carefully laid her hand against his cheek. He was somewhat cold to the touch, but not supernaturally cold. Just… colder than before.

He blinked at her, confused, before raising his own hand and placing it over hers. His eyebrows remained creased in confusion, however.

They remained like that for what felt like an unmeasurably long time. Finally, Danny muttered, "Sam?"

She froze, pulling her hand away from his cheek with a start. Danny furrowed his eyebrows even further, and his eyes darted over to Tucker, who had jumped as well. Panic had reappeared on his face.

"What's wrong? Why-" he stopped, hesitated, licked his lips. "What happened?"

Not wanting to see the growing panic on the face of her best friend, Sam gently grabbed Danny and pulled him towards her. She then wrapped her arms around him in a hug, burying her own face in his shoulder. He stiffened, momentarily, before he melted away against her, his cool arms wrapping around her. She could feel him shaking, still panicking.

"Shh, shh. We'll figure it out, okay Danny?" she attempted to soothe him. "Just calm down, deep breaths, okay?" To demonstrate, she took a deep breath herself.

She could hear Tucker's feet scuffing the floor as he approached, but she focused on Danny, who still wasn't calming down. His breathing was irregular, but she wasn't sure if it was because he was so freaked out, or because breathing didn't come naturally to him as a ghost.

"Dude, just calm down, okay? She's right, we'll figure this out, we always do."

Danny nodded, minutely, and took a deep, if somewhat shaky, breath. Slowly he released it, before he pulled himself out of the hug. He nodded again, more forcefully.

"What… What happened?"

Sam and Tucker shared a glance before shrugging at him. Sam swallowed, before hesitantly speaking. "What do you… remember?"

Danny frowned again, rubbing in his eyes. "I don't know. Everything, I think?"

Tucker snorted. "So your parents were wrong, then?" Seeing the quirked eyebrows of the others, he added, "About, y'know, ghosts?"

Danny stilled, suddenly. As his hands dropped back down, his eyes slowly grew wider again. "Oh."

"'Oh' what, dude?"

"I didn't-" Danny paused and groaned before trying again, pressing his hands against his eyes. "Am I a ghost now?"

"Uh, pretty sure you are, yeah," Sam deadpanned.

Danny groaned again. "How can you be so sure? I don't even look any different!"

"Dude, there is no doubt in my mind that you were a ghost when you walked out of that Portal." Tucker fixed the boy with a stern look. "And I really doubt that you can go from being a ghost back to being, y'know, alive."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Danny frowned, glancing between his two friends. "Did I… look different?"

"Uh, yeah. Your colors were all like, inverted and stuff, and you were-" A bright light sparked from Danny's chest, and Tucker snapped his mouth shut mid-sentence.

The light brightened even further, before it suddenly expanded into a ring around Danny. The boy blinked at it, confused, and moved as if to reach out towards it. The ring didn't give him a chance to do so, however, as it suddenly split in two and shot along his body, steadily increasing in brightness as it did so. Tucker and Sam flinched away, closing their eyes against the brilliant onslaught.

When the light faded away, Danny had returned to how he looked when he left the Portal.

"Yeah, like that," Tucker said, dryly.

Danny glared at him in answer, managing to be moderately more intimidating than normal thanks to his now glowing eyes. He gave up fairly quickly, however, instead gazing over himself and his new appearance.

Tucker coughed, awkwardly. "So..." he said, drawing out the 'o'. "Do you think you can, I dunno, switch on command. Or something? Is that some kind of ghostly ability?"

"I… don't know," Danny admitted, frowning. He raised one of his white-gloved hands, carefully flexing it. "I don't really know how I did it."

"Well, I don't know what triggered the- the change the first time," Sam hesitantly started. "But this time, Tucker was talking about your… more ghostly form, I guess, for lack of a better word, and then you changed into it." She shrugged. "Maybe thinking about your… your normal appearance will make you turn back again?"

"I- Maybe," he allowed, nodding. "I guess it can't hurt to try."

He shifted slightly, settling down in a more comfortable sitting position, and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled. Suddenly the light sparked back to life, soon followed by the rings. Before long, Danny had once more returned to his old, human appearance.

He opened his eyes, slowly, and glanced at his hands. Seeing the gloves once again black, he raised his eyes towards his friends and quirked an eyebrow. Against all expectations, his eyes sparkled with life.

"It worked, right?"

Both others nodded, and he sighed. "Well, that's something, I guess."

Tucker cleared his throat, and the other two teenagers snapped their attention over to him. He gestured broadly towards the body that was still lying on floor of the lab.

"So, um. If Danny is a ghost, then that's…" he trailed off. "Right?"

Danny wandered over to the corpse, and knelt next to it. His eyes were roving over the scorched carcass, never settling too long on any part. Sam wondered what it was like to look at your own dead body, and decided she never wanted to find out.

A silence fell over them as the reality of the situation dawned on them. Danny had _died_ in the Portal. He had entered the non-functional Portal his parents had built, coaxed by his friends, and somehow he had turned it on while he was still inside it.

And now he was a ghost.

Oh god, what would his _parents_ think? Would they accept him, accept that their research was wrong? Or would they insist that Danny wasn't their son anymore because he was a ghost? Would they… Would they hunt him, like some kind of animal?

"Maybe..." Danny muttered, so quietly it would've gone unheard if it weren't for the absolute silence of the lab. "Maybe we shouldn't tell anyone."

"Danny…"

"No, Tuck, don't. Just..." Danny shrugged somewhat helplessly. "I mean, you both know what my parents are like. They'll kill me when they find out. Well, not kill, but you know what I mean." He shifted, uncertainly. "And… I'm not ready to be dead yet. And maybe… Maybe it's wrong to pretend that- that nothing happened, but…"

Sam punched him in the arm. "Shut up, moron. It's your life. Or, well, afterlife?" She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Either way, we're in this together. If you don't want to tell anyone, we won't either. Okay?"

"Yeah," Tucker chimed in. He grinned at them, a smile that was just a little too forced to be convincing. "But really, Danny, I thought you were joking when you said you would come back to haunt us."

Silence fell for a moment as both others processed what Tucker said. He waited, patiently, hoping that his attempt at lifting the mood had worked. Then, suddenly, Danny snorted and Sam scowled.

"Y'know Tucker, I thought so too."

"Alright, while I'm glad that you two have found the humor in this situation, we still have important matters to discuss," Sam urged. Seeing the raised eyebrows of both boys, she sighed. "If we want to hide what happened here, we should probably do something about this _dead body._"

"Oh. Uh, yeah. Probably." Danny wrung his hands uncertainly. He glanced at the body, understandably upset over the prospect of having to move it. "Any brilliant ideas?"

Tucker scoffed. "Why don't we just bury it in the woods?"

"Tuck, that's…" Sam thought about it for a moment. "Actually, that could work. How are we going to get it out there?"

"My parents have a cart we could use?" Danny added. "They never use it anyway so they won't notice if it goes missing, and we could cover it with a piece of tablecloth or something. The only problem is getting it all the way to the woods without being-" he gradually quieted as he watched his hands disappear. Soon, he was entirely gone, Sam and Tucker staring at the spot where he had been with their mouths hanging open.

"-seen," Danny's voice finished, unchanged. A noise like a clicking tongue could be heard, before he spoke again. "So uh… I guess my parents were right about _some_ things after all."

Tucker reached forward until his hand hit the smooth fabric of Danny's jumpsuit. He quirked an eyebrow. "What, invisible but not intangible? That's kind of a letdown."

"Nah," Sam hummed. "I think his powers activate based on his intentions. He wanted to move the cart unseen. If he was intangible, he wouldn't be able to touch the cart either."

"That," Danny suddenly became visible again, "makes sense. But I don't think I can maintain it very long. Not yet, at least."

"Well, you've been a ghost for all of what," Tucker glanced at the clock hanging on one of the walls of the lab, "30 minutes, tops? It would make sense that your powers will need time to settle down."

"And it might be like a muscle," Sam added. "If you practice, you might get better at controlling it."

"Yeah, well, maybe. For now, let's focus on getting my-" He licked his lips. "On getting _the_ body to the woods."

Tucker nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Title from "Take Me To Church" by Hozier. And yes I thought it was a clever title to refer to the accident, even if no one realizes that Danny isn't actually dead.

As those of you familiar with Unearthed might've noticed, last chapter contained the end of said fic. This chapter, instead, is based on the prologue I cut from Unearthed - and later uploaded as Buried. It's been tweaked A LOT since, and this chapter is by far the one I fought with the most. If you compare it to the original, you'll notice that I've shuffled around a lot of the events from Buried. I liked the original concept, but felt like my execution needed some work. I'm still not entirely sold on it, but I think this is the best I'll get it, for now. I've only been writing for a couple months, after all, in a language that isn't my own. D'you know how hard it is for my perfectionistic ass to put this down and go "this is as good as I'll get it" and be happy with that?

Anyway, this has always been a transitional chapter to me, but the fic, as it is, doesn't need said transition. It was for me, while writing, the transition between Unearthed and Disinterred's new content. But I tried to make that transition smooth, which in turn means that this chapter really just kind of... has no proper place in the storyline. There is no ideal spot for it to exist.  
But I also felt like this chapter adds an important look into the mindset of Team Phantom during the Accident. Why they made the (stupid) decisions they made, and continue to make. So I didn't want to remove it entirely.

So yeah, this is definitely the chapter I feel most insecure about, haha. Hope it was enjoyable nonetheless, because I quite like it despite the trouble it gave me.

Anyway, next week: Chapter 7 - Our Lives Would've Only Just Begun


	7. Our Lives Would've Only Just Begun

**Chapter 7: Our Lives Would've Only Just Begun**

The police station loomed over Danny, a haunting reminder of how his life had changed. It was here that everything had gone wrong, that people had finally figured out that he was a ghost. Or, well. Close enough to one, anyway.

And now he was back, so they could "figure out what to do next", as detective Payton had put it.

He hoped, sincerely, that he could get through this discussion without having to reveal that he was only half ghost. He wanted to continue his life, as far as that was possible. If they tried to send him away, or keep him away from human society, he would have to tell them about his dual nature.

But that was risky. Sure, they _might_ be fine with it. Or they might call the GIW, have him taken as a study subject and science experiment.

That wasn't something he wanted to risk, so he hoped that they would continue to treat him as a human. Humanely, at least.

Danny stiffened minutely as a hand landed on his shoulders, but immediately relaxed again as he recognized the grip as his dad's. The man shot him a reassuring smile.

And so Danny took a deep breath, straightened himself out in a fairly hopeless attempt at gripping the courage he held as Phantom, and entered the police station. His parents and Jazz trailed after him.

The woman at the desk raised a doubtful eyebrow at him when he asked to speak with detective Payton about the case with the dead teenager, but informed the detective regardless. Moments later, Payton himself appeared, a pleased smile on his face when he saw Danny together with the rest of his family, and waved them in.

They entered the same conference room that Danny had been in with Sam and Tucker, just the day before, where the rest of Payton's team were waiting. Officer Carver had a dubious expression on her face, but it softened when she saw Danny.

The group took a few moments to settle down. Payton stood by the head on the table, and Danny and his family sat down on the opposite side of the police.

"So, I see that you've managed to…" he paused, clearly casting for the right words to use, "to _resolve_ the issues that came up during our last meeting. Is everything alright between the four of you now?"

Danny opened his mouth to answer, but his mother gripped his shoulder and answered while he was distracted. "Yes. We… acted before we knew the whole situation. But thankfully Jazz managed to get through our thick heads, and Danny…" she trailed off, uncertainly.

Danny, in answer, patted her hand. "And I know they meant well. It's all fine now, but thank you, detective Payton, officer Carver." He nodded at both of them, and Carver smiled in clear relief.

"I'm glad to hear so. I assume you're here to discuss the future, then?" Payton asked.

"Uh, yeah," Danny confirmed. "Last time, you mentioned that you wanted to tell my parents, and then we would discuss my future plans. Obviously, telling my parents didn't quite work out as planned." He shrugged. "But we're here now. So, what's next?"

"Well, as I said last time, you can't pretend to be alive forever, no matter how well you can blend in." Danny felt panic start bubbling up, and it must've shown on his face, because Payton was quick to continue. "_But_, you haven't caused any problems, and haven't raised any suspicions so far. You pointed out, last time, that you felt you were too young to be dead yet. So, we're willing to settle on a compromise of sorts."

Jazz hummed, a hint of suspicion in the sound. "What kind of compromise?"

Payton raised an eyebrow at her interjection, but apparently recognized her protective behavior from the interviews, as he quickly settled back in a more neutral expression. "We will hold off on officially announcing the victim as Daniel Fenton until he graduates from high school. We will still go through the case, of course, and finish up the paperwork and such. But the public won't know anything about the victim until after your graduation."

"Yeah, right." Danny snorted. "The public is already wild with rumors and such, especially the school. Even if you don't tell anyone anything, they might still figure it out." He shrugged then, settling further back in his chair. "But I guess that sounds alright."

"Are there any further details to this… deal? Anything Danny is, or is not, allowed to do?" Maddie pressed.

"He has to put genuine effort in graduating, of course. He can't just put it off so we won't declare him dead." Payton stopped as Danny squawked in indignation, but he was quickly quietened by Jazz. Satisfied that he wouldn't get interrupted again, Payton continued.

"And he can't get a job. The job market is already rough, especially for teenagers with no experience. We don't need ghosts stealing jobs from living teenagers who might genuinely need the money."

Danny rolled his eyes. "And I guess I don't _need_ money because I don't have to pay for food, or something along those lines?" Then he sighed, slumping in on himself. "But I guess I see your point."

"What about after graduation?" Jazz asked, leaning forward. "You'll declare him dead, but what is Danny supposed to do at that point? Will he still be allowed to attend college, or get a job at FentonWorks, or something? Or will he only be allowed to haunt around as an ordinary ghost all day?"

Detective Payton snorted, a somewhat incredulous expression his face. "If he can get himself accepted into college despite being dead, I see no reason to stop him from furthering his education. As for getting a job at FentonWorks..." He shrugged. "Well, you'll have to either figure out a way to pay him when he's legally dead, or you can figure out an alternative form of payment among yourselves. I don't particularly care."

Danny frowned, considering his options. "So I can continue doing what I've always done until graduation, and then I'm free to do whatever? As long as, y'know, the officials don't mind me being legally dead?"

"Yes, Mr. Fenton. As long as you don't terrorize the city as most ghosts are fond of doing, you're free to continue your high school education. After graduation, we would like to talk with you again to figure out your future plans."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, that sounds fair. I guess I'm okay with all of that, especially considering the alternatives."

"Of course, you'll still have to talk with your school. We've already contacted them to let them know about the situation, to make sure they were okay with having a ghost as a student, but you still need to talk with them to… make the final arrangements."

"Ugh," Danny groaned. "And let me guess, that needs to happen _right now_?"

"That would be best, yes." Payton's words were emotionless, but the twinkle of amusement in his eyes was unmistakable.

Danny sighed, but pushed himself out of his chair. "Fine, let's get that over with as well, then."

"Wait, hang on." Doctor Beckett waved him back into his seat again. "There's something else we need to discuss."

"Like what?" Danny asked as he sat down again. He cocked an eyebrow at the woman, and saw his parents and Jazz frown in confusion as well.

The doctor set a rather unimpressed stare on him. "Like the body down in the morgue, perhaps?"

Danny flushed in embarrassment, shoulders crawling upwards. "Oh. Right. Um. I don't particularly care about it." He turned to look at his parents, grimacing a little. "What, uh. What do you guys wanna do with it?"

His parents looked like they were caught off-guard rather badly. Jazz wasn't faring much better.

"I… suppose we can't bury it," his mom eventually managed, still looking rather uncomfortable with the topic. "We can't risk anybody coming across it before Danny's… death… is common knowledge."

"So…" Danny cleared his throat. "Cremation, then? I mean, the body is already mostly burnt anyway, right?"

"That's pretty morbid, kid," Carver muttered. Danny only offered her a shrug in return.

Payton stood up, laying his hands on the table in front of him. "We'll take care of the paperwork, then. The four of you should get going."

"Right." Danny stood up, frowning a little. He wasn't looking forward to another meeting about how he _different_ he was now.

* * *

"Well, Mr. Fenton, I must admit that this is quite a... unique situation."

Principal Ishiyama's gaze was inspecting and calculating, but not as cold as Danny had expected. Mr. Lancer, sitting right next to her, wore a far more neutral expression.

She sighed, finally taking her eyes off of Danny, who sagged in relief. His parents were right behind him, offering their support, but there was only so much comfort they could bring.

"I will say that we've never had a ghost as a student, and we've never considered it either. We've already accepted your continued attendance, of course. But we will have to make arrangement for your… skills."

Danny frowned, a flicker of annoyance finding its way through his trepidation. "Why? I haven't used them to hurt anyone before. And you've never attempted to discourage other students from using their _'skills'_, as you called them. In fact, the faculty _gladly ignores_ the bullying done by the members of the football team, as long as they continue to play well."

"Regardless, Mr. Fenton, surely you can't deny that you pose a greater danger to other students than members of the football team?" Principal Ishiyama narrowed her eyes at him, and Danny gladly returned the glare.

"Sure, I _could._ But I _don't_. Despite Dash's constant bullying, shoving me into my locker, and who knows what else he's done in the past two years." Danny rolled his eyes, taking his gaze off of the principal again. "If anything, Dash and the other jocks have caused far more pain and trouble than I have."

"Wait, hold on," Maddie interrupted, turning to look at Danny. "Are you telling me that these past two years you've been _getting bullied_, and you didn't even tell anyone?"

Danny blushed, drawing his shoulders up to his ears. "I-" Then he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yes. I've tried telling the teachers, in the beginning, but they never did anything because," he turned to look Mr. Lancer right in the eye, "they're '_star footballers'_ and thus '_exempt from scorn'_." He made sure to sound as scornful as he felt, the quoted words sharp.

This, apparently, awakened Maddie's strongest maternal instincts, and she glared down Mr. Lancer with a look that would probably bring Pariah Dark to his knees. She kept it up for what felt like an eternity, as everyone else sat in silence, glad that they weren't the target of Maddie's fury.

"And you're telling me-" Maddie said, as she finally took her eyes off of Lancer to look at Danny. "- that all this time, you _could_ have fought back, but you _didn't_."

Danny shrugged, still rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, I pulled a prank or two on him. But I stopped doing that a while ago too, and I never did anything as bad as what he does to me."

Maddie kept her eyes locked on him for a little longer, apparently trying to decide if he was telling the truth. Eventually she was satisfied, as she turned to set her gaze on principal Ishiyama. "So, as you can see, we don't need to do anything to stop Danny from using his '_special gifts'_ in the school. Besides, if you're afraid of him going malevolent and hurting another student, well," she shrugged, "I'm sure Phantom will stop him, no?"

Mr. Lancer frowned but clearly didn't dare to speak up after Maddie's earlier fury. Principal Ishiyama had no such qualms. "I thought the two of you were against Phantom?"

"Turns out we were wrong about him!" Jack boomed, jumping into the conversation. "We were going off of unfortunate events and biased observations. But Danny-boy introduced us, and now we've been able to determine that Phantom is trying to do the right thing after all!"

"Really?" Lancer cast a studying look at Danny, who frowned at him. "He knows Phantom well enough to introduce you?"

Danny, still frowning, rolled his eyes and slumped further into his chair. "I mean, yeah. Phantom kind of protects the town from ghosts, so he needs to keep an eye on every ghost in town. Plus, ghost containment devices like the Fenton Thermos don't just spontaneously appear in the Ghost Zone, you know?"

Principal Ishiyama cleared her throat, drawing the attention back to her. "Well, as interesting as this is, we're going off topic. I suppose that you and your family raise an excellent point about the misuse of your _abilities._ However, if you misuse them in any way, shape, or form in this school, be it to prank other students, to bully others, or to cheat, we _will_ discuss this again."

She shifted, folding her hands in her lap. "Which brings me to my second point. For almost your entire high school career, your grades have been extremely poor. But in middle school, and even at the start of freshman year, your grades were excellent, as we've come to expect from your family." She scrunched her eyebrows together, clearly grappling for the right words to say. "We now know that your grades dipped when- after your… accident. Which leads us to wonder… Mr. Fenton, is it possible that becoming a ghost has had an impact on your… ability to do school work?"

"Are you seriously implying that becoming a ghost has made me _less intelligent_?" Danny glared at her, indignation rising high. He could feel the cold burning sensation of ectoplasm bubbling up, and he knew his eyes must've been glowing by now, but he didn't care enough to stop them from doing so.

Ishiyama was clearly startled by the display, however, and quickly put up her hands as if to calm him. "No, no, nothing of the sort, Mr. Fenton." Danny allowed himself to calm a little, the glow leaving his eyes again. The principal clearly took this as a sign to continue. "There are all kinds of ways that this could've impacted your… ability to do well in school. Perhaps you're more easily distracted now, or maybe it's harder to retain information…" she was clearly casting for more ideas, trying to calm Danny down further.

"Daniel," Mr. Lancer interrupted. "She didn't mean to make any insinuations about your intelligence levels. But you've gone through a potentially traumatic experience, and one that has altered the way your body, and possibly your mind, works. And you can't deny that both your attendance levels and your grades have dropped. We just want to know if your accident is, in fact, related to this, and if we can help in any way."

"I… suppose it kind of is?" Danny said, uncertainly. Yes, his struggles with school _were_ linked to his accident, but not because he had _become_ a ghost, but because he _fought_ them. But he couldn't tell them that. Maybe, though… Maybe he could twist the truth a little.

"I just..." He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck, finally relenting from his glaring. "I just kind of… need to leave sometimes? When everything, uh..."

"When everything becomes too much," Jazz cut in, laying her hands on Danny's shoulders in a clear sign of support. "Danny, as a ghost, is more sensitive to emotional disturbances. And as you might imagine, high schools are full of turbulent emotions, which can act distracting or become too overwhelming." She spoke with an air of certainty, a feeling of professionalism and knowledge exuding from her. Danny couldn't thank her enough for everything she did to save his ass.

His mom had clearly caught on to what Jazz was going for, as she nodded along. "Yes, exactly. Even in the house or the library, where Danny might work on his homework, sudden heavy emotions can be distracting or keep him from completing his work. I'm afraid that nothing can be done to help against it, besides being more lenient."

Principal Ishiyama hummed, thoughtfully. "I suppose we can be a little more lenient on Mr. Fenton, if he can prove that he _is_ trying. I will not let this develop into some shoddy excuse for him to get out of punishment."

"So if I promise to try my best you'll go easy on me?" Danny quirked a questioning eyebrow at the two faculty members.

Mr. Lancer sighed. "Well, we'll try, at least. We can't be too obvious about it, unless you _want_ the entire school to figure it out."

Yeah, Danny definitely _didn't_ want that to happen. He nodded eagerly.

"Sounds good. So when the break ends I can just go back to how things were? But the teachers will be a little easier on me?"

"Yes, Mr. Fenton. And as long as you continue as you've been doing for the past 2 years, you'll be free to stay until graduation." Ishiyama's voice was flat with exhaustion, and quite honestly, Danny's couldn't blame her. The whole day had been exhausting for him as well, and he could imagine that dealing with an easily-angered teenager with ghost powers wasn't easy either. Although he still wasn't convinced that she hadn't meant the earlier insinuation that ghosts were less intelligent than humans.

"Is that everything that we needed to discuss, then?" Maddie had clearly run out of patience as well. Her earlier anger over the bullying thing was probably still lingering. The principal nodded, and waved them out of her office.

Oh, shoot. He was going to have to talk about the bullying as well, wasn't he?

Couldn't this day just _end_ already?

* * *

Title from "String Theory" by Les Friction. We've officially reached the completely new part of Disinterred - all the previous chapters were, to some degree, based on Unearthed or Buried, but from here on out it's uncharted territory! How exciting! I really am very excited about the new stuff - and worried but that's just my standard state of being tbh.

I'm also still not 100% sure when characters should be added to the character list. I'll add some that will become more important in the next few chapters, but if you think any of the others should be added too, let me know! I'm... not used to having minor characters.

Also I'm working on a spin-off one-shot for Disinterred which is, well, an AU. If I ever come up with an ending I'll post it, so if Disinterred is suddenly part of a series, well, that'll be it. Since it's AU for Disinterred it won't be required reading but, well, if you enjoy Disinterred you'll probably like Dead Ringer as well. Although my team of cops have somehow found their way into that one as well...

Next week: Chapter 8 - Fool The Whole World


	8. Fool The Whole World

**Chapter 8: Fool The Whole World**

"So how're you feeling, dude?"

Danny shrugged at Tucker as he closed his locker, not even bothering to look at either of his friends. "I dunno. Kinda nervous, but not really? If that makes sense?"

Sam hummed from his other side. "Everything should be okay. Principal Ishiyama promised, and so did Lancer, right?"

"Yup," he confirmed, straightening his backpack. "But still. I guess I am a little worried that people will, y'know, figure it out."

"Dude, don't." Tucker clapped him on the shoulder, grinning widely. "They haven't figured it out before, and they won't do it now either."

Sam nodded. "Right. If anything, life will be easier for you, now that your parents know and the teachers kinda know."

"Yeah," Danny sighed. "I guess so. Let's just get to English before Lancer gets worried or something."

Right at that moment the bell rung, and the three of them quickly made their way to the English classroom. Mr. Lancer was already inside, sharing a knowing glance with Danny when he entered. Danny nodded, once, before making his way to his seat in the back of the room.

Within minutes the rest of the classroom filled up as well, the rest of the class chattering loudly. Too many people were talking at once for Danny to tell what the conversations were about, but he could guess. The holidays, Easter, gossip.

And, _oh yeah_. The police investigation regarding his corpse. Still a common topic among the rumors of Casper High.

Mr. Lancer closed the door, coming to a halt in front of his desk. The expression on his face made it clear that he was hoping that the class would quiet down on its own. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

Instead the man cleared his throat, momentarily catching the attention of the class. He glared around, ensuring that the silence would last a little longer. "Please, kids. I know you want to talk with your friends and catch up after the holidays, but you can wait until lunch to do so."

The students remained silent for a few moments longer, as if processing what their teacher told them.

And then they completely ignored the man in favor of continuing their previous conversations.

Ah, the beauty of high school. Danny was glad that, despite everything that had changed during the last week or so, some things remained the same as always.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Mr. Lancer didn't feel the same way. His expression had darkened, a frown on his face and his arms crossed in front of him. He was casting his eyes around the classroom, clearly taking in the chaos of the students ignoring him. Danny waved when the teacher looked his way, and Sam and Tucker next to him also remained silent and focused on the teacher. They appeared to be the only ones, however.

Finally Mr. Lancer gave up, slamming his hand against the desk he was standing next to.

"_Heart of Darkness_ people, will you just keep _quiet_!" The sudden shout had done an excellent job of quieting down the class, as everyone sat frozen in their seats, looking at the teacher. He looked around the class, straightening out his tie with a somewhat sheepish expression his face.

"Ah, yes. Thank you." He looked around the class once more. "I see that you are all still a little out of it after the break, so perhaps we should ease into our schoolwork, yes? Why don't we start with a discussion about recent news? Anything particular we could use?"

"Uhm," Mikey spoke up from the front of the classroom. "Maybe we could talk about the body the police found in the woods?"

"Yeah! Didn't the police release an official statement about that this morning?" Nathan agreed, nodding energetically.

Mr. Lancer frowned, apparently hesitant about taking up the topic. Maybe he was trying to avoid it for Danny? If that was the case, Danny definitely appreciated the attempt.

Sadly, Lancer couldn't come up with a reason to deny Mikey's suggestion. The man sighed before nodding at the student. "Yes, I suppose that would work. Let's start by summarizing the known facts." He turned towards Dash, gesturing at the boy. "Mr. Baxter?"

The boy in question jerked to attention, eyes flicking towards Mr. Lancer. Danny had to repress his chuckles at seeing that Dash hadn't heard anything. "I, uh…"

Lancer rolled his eyes and sighed. "Ms. Sanchez, could _you_ summarize the facts for us, please?"

"Of course," Paulina chirped, putting down the nail file she was holding. "Not that we have many facts confirmed for us. We've known for a while that a body was found in the woods. And earlier this morning, the police officially announced that they have solved the case, but they refuse to give out details." She clicked her tongue, disapprovingly. "Something about respecting the victim and the family, or whatever."

Lancer heaved another sigh, but nodded at her. "Yes, thank you. Now that we know the facts-" Lancer continued speaking, but Danny tuned him out thanks to years of practice.

This was going to be a _long_ day.

* * *

Danny had been wrong. It wasn't just a long _day_, more like a long _week_. The never-ending rumors about the body found in the woods hadn't let up, and the new statement given by the police had just rekindled the fires.

And, of course, this made the students of Casper High surprisingly sharp. Only his years of experience at keeping his secret had prevented the school from figuring him out. He made sure to double (and triple) check his environment every time he used his powers, and only transformed into Phantom in closets and empty bathrooms.

Unfortunately, while Danny had become quite skilled at keeping his secrets, well, _secret_, the same thing couldn't be said of his teachers. Because, as much as he appreciated them going easy on him, it was also quite obvious.

Well, obvious to the sharp eyes of Casper High's re-awakened rumor mill, at least.

Naturally, the other students had no problem taking the changed behavior and running with it. Before Danny knew it, rumors about him being a ghost had started circulating, spreading like wildfire.

And he was powerless to stop it.

Really, the only thing he could do was ignore it. Pretend that nothing had changed, in the hopes that it would blow over.

It was dangerous, he knew. Sure, right now they were just high school rumors. But if they kept up, if he in any way suggested that there was a truth to the rumors… Well, eventually the wrong people would find out. And if anyone with any actual power tested him…

Well, he was sure that _they _would be able to figure out that he was only _half_ ghost. And from there… labs, experimentation, finding out what makes him tick… and how to replicate _it_. His accident.

Making more human-ghost hybrids.

No, that wasn't something he could risk. But there was nothing he could do, not now. If he did _anything_, reacted in _any_ way to the rumors, he would only feed them.

So he could only listen to the rumors as they spread, and try not to do anything to suggest them to be true.

* * *

The body that had been found in the woods had been an interesting subject for gossip for a while now, inspiring curiosity among the entire population of Amity Park. And, as the queen of gossip, Paulina _had_ to know every theory, every possibility, and, as proven earlier, every fact.

After the press statement on Monday morning, people had started suggesting that the victim had become a ghost, and that they were still present in the city.

It would make sense, Paulina decided, to withhold information about the case if the victim was still around. And, based on that information, the victim was likely still pretending to be alive. Blending in with the living, at least.

The people in charge would've been told. If the victim was a child, or a teenager, like people thought, teachers would've been told for sure.

And with all these new possibilities, people had started paying more attention to their surroundings. People acting out, things that didn't quite make sense.

Which, of course, led to people noticing Danny Fenton.

Sure, the boy had always been _different_. An outcast, spending most of his high school career _outside_ the classroom, either running late or simply running off. His grades were poor as well, although Paulina had to admit hers weren't much better either.

But now, after the break, something about Fenton had changed. Not him, nothing about his appearance.

No, what had changed was how the teachers behaved around him.

Fenton was always late, always running off, never finished his homework. And the teachers hated him for it. They scolded him, gave him detention, they tried everything to stop the boy from misbehaving.

But now, suddenly, they were nice to him again.

Sure, most of them were clearly peeved when Fenton ran off or was late. But they weren't nearly as hard on him as before the break.

And when they thought no one was looking (or sometimes even if there _were_), the teachers looked… sad, for lack of a better word. Like something about Fenton upset the teachers, but in a different way than before.

Combined with the new rumors that there was a ghost living among the people… Well, it was easy to connect the dots for the gossipers of Casper High.

Paulina wasn't sure who started the rumors, but quite honestly, she doesn't care. She doesn't care about the fact that she might be spreading hurtful gossip either.

No, all that mattered to her was that this was a _delightful_ story, and Paulina was more than happy to do her job spreading it.

After all, little Danny Fenton, a ghost? His parents were ghost _hunters_! What a beautiful contradiction, a fantastic irony.

Paulina didn't hold very high opinions of the adult Fentons. Nor of the children, but that was something else entirely.

No, the two ghost hunting Fentons were clearly not in their right minds. Even if they _were_ right about ghosts, they always targeted Phantom! _Her_ ghost-boy, who wouldn't hurt a single human!

And as for the matter of Danny's death… Well, she wouldn't consider it impossible if the parents had been responsible, somehow. Maybe not on purpose, but…

Well, maybe on purpose. Perhaps catching a ghost turned out to be so difficult that they just _made_ one.

Maybe… Maybe Danny _had_ been the first ghost in Amity. Maybe that was why Phantom always seemed to follow him. Her ghost-boy was just looking out for his fellow ghost.

It could even be tradition, for ghosts! To look out for younger ghosts, like a parent over a child.

She thought that that would be perfectly in-character for her beautiful Phantom. To protect a ghost from his own ghost-hunting parents.

Yes, that seemed right. _That_ is what she would spread. Her influence on these rumors, her own twist.

* * *

At first, Dash thought that the new rumors were kinda funny. Like, "haha, the freaky ghost hunters' kid is a ghost" funny.

But then he listened to some of the other kids debate and argue, and, well. They raised some excellent points.

He had thought that it was a joke. But maybe, _maybe_, there was a truth to the rumors.

And that unnerved him in a way he couldn't explain. Not just because of his poor grades, because he didn't have the words for it. No, he couldn't explain it because it was something visceral. A feeling beyond description, beyond words.

Because if Fenton was a ghost, what did that mean for Dash? If Fenton was a ghost, something must've killed him, right? And Dash… Dash bullied the kid _a lot_. Almost constantly, really. And for the stupidest reasons.

Fenton had never _seemed_ suicidal to Dash, sure. But Dash had also never considered the possibility that Fenton had, at some point, died. And now, watching the boy react to Dash's threats… He could imagine missing it. The reactions weren't quite genuine, like Fenton had seen worse.

And Dash had never noticed until now. So, sure, he could've missed Fenton going suicidal as well. Hell, he could have easily missed the entire arc, from the kid feeling suicidal to ending it and then _coming back_, without ever picking up on it.

But Dash refused to believe it to be the truth. No matter how convincing the arguments of some of the smarter kids were, how much sense it would make. Because Fenton couldn't be dead. Not really.

Dash couldn't- Dash refused to consider it. Because if Fenton was dead, _he_ could've been the reason for it. And that surely wasn't the case. He was a bully, sure. But it was just harmless fun. A few bruises at worst.

Not this. Not death.

So, sure. He played along, laughed with the others. But he refused to believe it to the truth. Even if Fenton was always pretty cold to the touch.

Even if Fenton sometimes got out of his locker way faster than humanly possible. As if the boy could just phase out of it.

Even if Fenton could somehow stuff Dash's locker with toilet paper without ever opening the locker.

Or being seen.

No. Dash refused to believe it. Fenton wasn't a ghost, and he wasn't dead.

Dash was sure of it.

* * *

Danny was freaking out.

_Well_, Sam thought to herself, bitterly. _When is he not freaking out, these days?_ But she couldn't blame him. Life had been beyond stressful for Danny ever since he became half-ghost. And the whole business with the police finding his body and assuming that he was a full ghost… Well, it was a whole mess.

And now, when things were finally starting to look up, life had kicked him down again. Finally things had been fixed, the police weren't on his ass anymore, his parents knew and accepted him, and even the teachers would be going easy on him.

But unfortunately, Casper High's rumor mill had done a scarily accurate job of targeting Danny. Because they thought that he was a ghost, that it was _his_ body that had been found in the woods.

And god, they were _right_. They didn't know it yet, didn't have any actual proof. But they didn't have to to freak out Danny. And the more stressed out he became, the more his inner turmoil was fed… The easier it was for him to slip up, to miss something obvious.

To give their fellow students the one final clue they needed.

Sam dreaded it too, of course. She needed her best friend to stay safe, to stay out of trouble. But there was nothing she could do to prevent this situation.

Except…

Except maybe it wasn't all bad. Sure, she wouldn't _promote_ the idea of Danny being a ghost… But maybe it would have some upsides.

Yes. This could work. This was something she could do, a way for her to support Danny.

But, just to be sure, she should talk to Tucker about it. And Jazz, if the girl wasn't too busy with college at the moment.

Sam smiled to herself. Finally, _finally_, she had a way to help Danny through this mess.

And help him she would.

* * *

Title from "Hope Of Morning" by Icon For Hire. We're officially past the half-way mark, both in chapters and in word count. Also the shortest chapter (if we're not counting the first one) in all of Disinterred. And that's after all the padding I've added. This chapter also kept fighting me - I guess it was too vague in my planning? Just wanted the rumors to start building + how people would respond to that, but I didn't bother thinking of any details. It feels kind of... idk, lackluster? disjointed? to me. That having been said, writing from Paulina's and Dash' perspectives was fun, and I do like their bits. Plus there's a lot of setting up for the future which is always good.

Anyway I don't usually respond to reviews on this site bc... idk how; PMs seem too direct/personal and I feel weird sticking them in the author notes? But Nozomi Higurashi asked about Wes Weston last chapter - and no, I have no intentions of including Wes in this fic (or... any of my fics, really). I feel like the actual canon cast is good enough, although Wes is a pretty neat characters - he's just not a character I really need to include for my storylines. Even here in Disinterred, I've already referred to Amity Park's rumor mill (and Casper High's especially) as a very efficient machine. As you might've noticed in this chapter, they really don't need anybody special to weasel out the truth; or what they _think_ is the truth.

Next week: Chapter 9 - But Now I Tell A Single Truth


	9. But Now I Tell A Single Truth

**Chapter 9: But Now I Tell A Single Truth**

It was a stupid idea. A profoundly, incredibly, unbelievably _stupid_ idea.

But Valerie had always been a little too reckless. A little too quick to act. It was one of those traits that made her a good ghost hunter, to be able to act quickly and without hesitation.

Nevertheless, going out looking for Phantom was a _stupid idea_. Sure, the ghost always insisted that he was a good ghost, that he didn't want to fight her. And the whole situation with the body that the police found in the woods was just too bizarre, had caught her attention even before the rumors that had captivated Casper High.

But, even if it likely involved ghosts, and even _if_ Phantom knew anything about it… How likely was it that the ghost would talk to _her_ about it?

Hell, the ghost only ever seemed to show up to fight other ghosts, and usually fled the moment he saw her. How was she even going to talk with him in the first place? Let alone bring up sketchy topics like this one? She could just imagine flying up to him while he was distracted, approaching him before going "hey, you know anything about that dead body in the woods?" Nah, he would probably just think that she was blaming him.

Which, to be fair, she probably would've. She still wasn't sure about Phantom, about his goals and methods. But it seemed that the body predated Phantom's stay in the city, and while he _could_ have killed that person before anyone had ever seen him… It didn't seem like his MO.

Besides, if Phantom _was_ secretly a killer, well. He probably would've killed more people since then, no? Especially now, while the majority of Amity celebrated him as a hero who can do no wrong. Hell, he could probably blame it on another ghost and most people would believe him.

So no, Valerie didn't think Phantom was responsible for this. But still, it likely involved ghosts, so Phantom might know more. At the very least, he might've gotten curious and spied on the police. He certainly could've done so more easily than Valerie, thanks to his innate ability to turn invisible.

Which had led to her current plan of finding Phantom and talking with him. Which was more easily said than done. Really, she should've realized so sooner, but, well. She wasn't always the best at planning ahead.

Finally, however, a stroke of good luck happened upon her. Her ghostly scanner went off, alerting her to a fairly weak ghost nearby. And then, almost immediately, a second ghost appeared right next to the first. Valerie had already turned her hoverboard into the right direction before she checked the signatures of the ghosts. Her scanner told her what she had already expected: the Box Ghost and Phantom.

She sped over there, making it just in time to see Phantom cap his thermos and hook it on his belt. She forcibly relaxed her posture, to make herself look less threatening. And then she called over to him.

"Hey, Phantom!"

The ghost started, whirling around faster than humanly possible. When he saw her, he tensed up. Against her expectations, however, he made no move to leave. Instead, he quirked an eyebrow at her. "Hey Red… No weapons today?"

"Nah," she answered, leaning back a little in the hopes of looking casual. If he saw her nerves and struck… Well, her new suit might respond to her thoughts, but summoning a weapon still takes time. "Actually, I was hoping that we could… talk?"

"Huh?" was his eloquent response, as Phantom dropped his tense posture again. His eyes had gone big, mouth hanging open slightly. Really, a picture-perfect depiction of bafflement. "Really? After 2 years of non-stop hunting, you want to _talk_? About what, exactly?"

"About that corpse the police found in the woods. I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with ghosts, which means that _you_ probably know more about it, no?"

Phantom tensed up again, slightly. He crossed his arms over his chest, eyes guarded. Uh oh, looks like she messed up somehow. Did he think she was blaming him?

"And you're what, blaming me?" Yep, he definitely thought she was blaming him.

"No," she said, voice straining as she tried to keep herself from snapping at him. "But you _do_ know a lot about ghosts. More than me, at least, and probably more than the Fentons."

"Oh," was all he offered in return. His glare had softened slightly, more calculative and thoughtful now. "I guess you have a good point there. And you're right."

"About?" She was right! Her hunch was correct! She wasn't quite sure what about, yet, but she would find out. For now, she would take this win.

"Well, about both of those things, I guess." Phantom shrugged at her. "I _do_ know more about ghosts than anyone else in this town. But I meant that you were right about suspecting a ghostly element."

Valerie grinned, not that Phantom could see it while she was wearing her helmet. This whole thing was going way better than planned! "So, was a ghost responsible?"

"Uh, well," Phantom spluttered, before snapping his mouth shut. He shifted around a little, and Valerie tensed up, expecting him to suddenly shoot off.

But then Phantom settled down again, raising his hand to scratch the back of his neck. "I kinda… can't tell you?"

"What?" Valerie snapped. Was this ghost for real? "Why not?"

"I, uh. I told the police everything I knew about the situation, helped them out a little, you know? So I'm not allowed to talk about the uh, the whole thing." He was still rubbing the back of his neck, a green blush creeping up. Oh lord, he was _serious_ about this? Must be, because you can't fake embarrassment like that, not even as a ghost.

"So… there's nothing you can tell me?" She fought to keep the longing out of her voice, but couldn't stop the frustration from seeping through instead. She was so close!

"No. Sorry, Red." And he looked genuinely sorry, damn him! He dropped the hand again, giving her a sheepish smile instead. Unbelievable! The bastard always found a way to make her life hell, without even trying!

But she couldn't deny that he had a point, if he wasn't lying about this. And he didn't seem to be, despite ghosts being prone to doing so.

So she sighed. "That's fine, I guess. Can't be helped."

"I really am sorry," he reiterated, moving slightly closer to her, as if he wanted to console her. "For all it matters, I really _do_ appreciate you coming to me to talk, instead of, I dunno. Trying to shoot the information out of me."

"For all the good it did me," she grumbled, but she had to admit, Phantom had a point. It had been pretty nice to just… talk with him. And he really _was_ right, he likely knew more about ghosts than she did. Knowledge she could use to hunt other ghosts, more dangerous ghosts.

But he was still a random element, a potential danger just lurking around. She couldn't trust him.

"I'll see you around, Phantom. Don't cause any trouble." She pointed at her eyes and then him, a movement clearly recognizable as the 'I'm watching you' gesture, despite the fact that she was wearing a helmet. And then she turned around and flew off.

So, she hadn't learned everything that she had hoped to. But now she _did_ know that ghosts were involved. And that, in turn, gave the rumors of Casper High just that bit of proof that they needed.

She didn't _want_ the rumors to be true, of course. Danny Fenton was a sweet boy. Hell, she had even dated him for a while!

But the rumors weren't based on nothing. There was already a surprising amount of proof gathered, and, well. Valerie had the means of confirming the rumor. No matter how little she wanted it to be true.

And sure, there were things that didn't make sense about it. After all, Danny's parents were ghost hunters! Surely they couldn't have a ghost for a son?

But, well. The Fentons aren't great ghost hunters, at all. So she wouldn't be surprised to learn that they had a ghost living under their roof without ever knowing.

So, no, there was nothing concrete to strike the rumor down. Nothing to prove it wrong. So Valerie had to figure it out herself. Find the evidence she needed.

Now she just had to wait until the right moment to strike.

* * *

And, that Monday, Valerie saw the opportunity she was waiting for. It was lunch, the hallways were deserted, and she had just returned from a ghost fight. She wasn't expecting to run into anybody, let alone the guy that she was hoping to talk to.

But there he was, alone in the hallways. Danny Fenton, for once without Sam or Tucker by his side.

It was not only the perfect opportunity, but one that she wouldn't get again. Sure, she wasn't sure _why_ Danny was alone in the corridors of the school, without his friends by his side, but it didn't matter. She had more important questions to answer.

She pulled out a ghost scanner, an old one from her first suit. It might not be quite as good as her current one, but it wasn't recognizable as belonging to the Red Huntress. And, while it might not be able to read ecto-signatures, she just needed to tell if Danny was a ghost or not.

Twisting the dial to the highest sensitivity, she saw a dot light up on the display. Located right where Danny was standing.

She straightened out her posture, squaring her shoulders in an attempt to make her look more confident than she felt. And then she stepped forward, approaching the boy she liked. The one person she still considered a close friend.

The boy that had probably been a ghost the whole time.

"Hey, Danny!"

The boy in question jerked, visibly startled by the sudden call. With a loud thump the backpack in his hands dropped to the floor, a metallic clang emitting from it.

When he turned around and saw Valerie, he relaxed again, a relieved grin on his face. "Oh, hey Val. Wasn't, uh, expecting to see anyone here."

"Yeah, same," she admitted. The ghost scanner was pressed against her leg, its display hidden from the boy in front of her. "Kinda convenient, though. I kinda… needed to talk to you."

"Oh?" _God_, he looked so innocent, with those big blue eyes. Even if he was a ghost, and he probably_ was_, she couldn't imagine him hurting anyone. "What about?"

Uh oh, she hadn't thought of a good way to bring up this topic… _Dammit, Valerie_, she cursed herself, _should've thought ahead for once. When will you learn?_

"It's… about those rumors going around."

"Oh, those," he grumbled, as he crouched to pick up his backpack. "Surely you don't believe stupid rumors like that? I mean, can you imagine that? Me, a ghost?" He barked out a laugh, sharp and cutting.

Valerie hummed in response. "Kinda do, actually."

Danny stiffened, still crouched. Then he turned to look at her, a frown on his face. "Really? Why?"

"Well," she started, as she turned the ghost scanner in her hand so that Danny could see its display. "This is kinda convincing."

The boy grabbed it out of her hand, and she let him. Danny looked it over for a moment. Then he sighed, shoulders drooping. "Guess I should've known that you would figure it out."

"So… You are?" She paused, before speaking again. "A ghost, I mean?"

"Yeah," he sighed, finally standing up again, backpack in his hands. "Since the start of freshman year."

She knew already, of course. But to hear him admitting it… It made it more real, somehow. And it didn't help that this was someone she _knew_.

Because, sure, ghosts are dead people. Everyone knows that. But you don't really think about it, not as a ghost hunter. Then they're just enemies, powerful beings from a different dimension.

Not this kid that you've known for years. Who still lives with his parents. Who went out of his way to befriend you, after you lost your old 'friends'.

"So, now what?" Danny asked, and Valerie snapped back to reality.

"What do you mean?" she asked, eloquently. _Smooth, Valerie_, she chided herself.

Danny rolled his eyes, swinging his backpack around so it hung off of his shoulder. "What comes now? What are you going to do next?" He offered her the ghost scanner.

Valerie frowned at him, taking the gadget back. "You mean… because of our friendship? You're worried that I won't be friends anymore?"

He snorted. "Honestly, Val, you ending our friendship is one of the least scary things you could do to me."

"Yeah," she agreed, before her thoughts ground to a halt. Wait a minute, what did he mean by that? Because, sure, he was right. As a ghost hunter, she was always carrying around ghost hunting equipment, including weapons.

But he didn't know that, did he?

He must've correctly read her expression, because he shrugged and offered her a sheepish grin. "Yes, I know about your ghost hunting. Have known pretty much from the start."

"What- How?" she bit out. Her suit started buzzing in the back of her head, ready to form to protect her.

Danny, however, simply raised his hand and started rubbing the back of his neck. _God_, how could he still look so innocent? "You kinda ran into me and Sam in the park, when you first started. We recognized your voice."

He was right. She remembered that. She had encountered Phantom in the park, playing with that stupid dog of his. She had chased him, but he had thrown her off, and instead she came across Danny and Sam kissing in the bushes. She couldn't remember what, exactly, she had said to them. But she knew for a fact that she had spoken to them.

God dammit, how was she this much of an idiot? Spoiling her secret identity so easily, and not even _knowing_ about it? Because if Danny and Sam both knew, then surely Tucker did as well.

She grunted, angrily, resisting the urge to punch the wall she was standing next to.

A cold hand landed on her shoulder, and instinct drove her to swing a punch into its direction.

Danny flinched back, but her fist swung clean through him. The feeling was bizarre, but one she recognized.

He had turned intangible. Like a ghost.

Because he _was_ a ghost. God dammit, more proof she didn't need. Didn't want.

"Hey, calm down. Please?" Danny had his hands raised, as if trying to calm down a wild animal. The thought was kinda ironic to Valerie, that the 'dangerous' ghost was trying to calm down the ghost hunter.

She chuckled at the thought, and Danny offered her a hesitant grin in return.

"Sorry," she finally managed, loosely folding her arms over each other. "I kinda… freaked out on you, didn't I?"

"Eh," he simply answered, shrugging. "That's okay. Totally to be expected, considered the circumstances." Then he looked her over, a somewhat guilty glint in his eyes. "Are you okay now?"

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I think so. I just… I tried so hard to keep it secret, y'know? And now I find out that you've know this whole time. You, and Sam and Tucker… And who knows who else too?"

"Ah." He grimaced. "I know how much that sucks, yeah. But, if it makes you feel any better, we haven't told anybody. Sam, Tucker, and I, that is. And I don't think anybody else knows." He winked at her. "They're not too great at discovering _really obvious_ secrets around here."

She snorted, allowing herself to calm down. He was right. If the people of Amity Park couldn't figure out that Danny was a ghost, then surely they didn't know that she was the Red Huntress.

And as for Danny… Well, he might be a ghost, but he didn't seem to be an evil one. Despite everyone always saying that every ghost was evil… She just couldn't imagine it from Danny.

And yes, sure, he lied. To her, and to everybody else. But he kept her secret too, without her even knowing about it. Hell, he had even _dated_ her, despite knowing that she was a ghost hunter.

No, Danny hadn't done anything wrong. As overwhelming as this all was, as much as she needed time to process everything… She knew that much, at least.

"Danny..." she started, before trailing off. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Danny, thanks for telling me. I- It must've been hard to tell me."

He made a face, but nodded. "Yeah, kinda. Which is why I put it off until I couldn't deny it anymore."

She hummed her agreement. "I'm… gonna need time to- to process this. To work through it." He flinched, and she quickly added, "But I'm not upset! It's just… a little much, you know?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "I get it. I'll leave you alone so you can think." He turned around to walk away, but then stopped. He looked at her again. "But, Valerie. If you ever need to talk, or something… You know where to find me, yeah?"

And then he trotted off, and Valerie was left in the hallway alone with her thoughts.

* * *

Title from I Bet My Life by Imagine Dragons. This might be one of my favorite chapters in Disinterred, although tbh I'm quite fond of all four upcoming chapters. I guess I'm just very fond of Valerie and her relationship with Danny/Phantom.

I also have not one, but TWO writing related notes! First of all, I posted a one-shot spin-off for Disinterred a couple days ago (Dead Ringer), AND also I'm participating in the Phic Phight. I'll post all the things I write for said Phight on Tumblr, and then after April ends I'll go through them and see how, exactly, I'll upload them to AO3. Might end up chucking them in my one-shot collection, idk. We'll see.  
If you want to read them before then, however, they will all be available on my Tumblr (inky-interest).

Also, as a general reminder: Constructive criticism and tips and whatever are very welcome! I'm still super new to writing and English is hard sooooo any help is very welcome. Even just saying what you liked and didn't like would help immensely, tbh. Especially since this is the first time in literally years that I've written + posted a multi-chapter fic.  
This is a standard author note that is tagged onto Disinterred as a whole on AO3, but it bears repeating here, as well. I started writing fanfic in October last year, and have, since then, produced roughly 125.000 words of fanfic (not including author notes). Obviously I've improved _some_ over these many, many words, but more improvement is good! Critiques are good!

Next week: Chapter 10 - Now It's Over For Me


	10. Now It's Over For Me

**Chapter 10: Now It's Over For Me**

_Of course life could never go easy on me_, Danny thought to himself. Heaven forbid something go _right_ for once!

Because, just what he needed after the stress of his sort-of reveal with Valerie, was _more problems_!

He had felt tired, yesterday. Not very surprising, considering all the nerves and stress and such, but it was… weird. A strange exhaustion, one he recognized but didn't feel often enough to place. A bone-deep experience… Except he didn't feel it in his bones. But where else?

It wasn't until he woke up the next day that he recognized it.

His alarm clock went off, and groaning, Danny quietened it again. He still felt tired, a deep ache in his core…

Wait, back up.

His _core_ felt tired. His exhaustion the day before hadn't been of the human kind, caused by stress. It had been _ghostly_. That's why he recognized it! He felt it a lot when he first started out, or when he gained new powers. It was caused by the strain of his core being overworked, either by himself, or by developing a new ability.

But… He hadn't gotten any new powers, had he?

He shivered, tensing up in preparation for his ghost sense to come. It didn't, however. He just felt cold.

But he hadn't, not since the accident. He had always assumed that it was normal for a half-ghost. So then why was he feeling cold _now_?

Another shiver ran through him, and he grimaced. Maybe he was getting sick? Although, he hadn't been susceptible to most common sicknesses either, the past few years. A ghostly sickness, then? That _would_ explain why his core was aching.

Either way, he should talk with his parents about this. He didn't _feel_ sick, only cold, but that might change. And if it posed a possible danger, they might be able to help. It was still a little weird to go to them, especially about something like this… But it was nice.

He wrapped his blanket around himself, although it did little to stop the cold. Then he hobbled out of his room, slowly making his way downstairs to the kitchen.

"Danny," his mother greeted him, a faint scolding tone in her voice when she spotted him in his sleepwear and wrapped in a blanket. "Why aren't you dressed?"

"I, uh. I'm either sick or developing a new ghost power." He shrugged, not that it was very noticeable with the blanket, and offered a sheepish grin. "Not sure which of the two."

"Really?" Jack cut in, voice as loud and enthusiastic as always. His eyes sparkled with curiosity. "How can you tell? That you're getting a new power, I mean."

Maddie pulled out a chair, and Danny gratefully dropped into it. "Well, it's either that, or I overused my powers. And I know it isn't that. I… don't really know how to explain the feeling." He picked at the edge of the blanket, uncertain. "It's kind of like… a strained muscle, or a deep exhaustion? But in my ghost core, I guess."

"But you think it might be a sickness instead?" his mom questioned, stopping Jack from derailing the conversation with his questions.

"Yeah." Danny nodded, wrapping the blanket tighter around himself as another shiver wracked his frame. "Usually I actually, you know, _use_ a power before it gets me so tired. But I haven't used any new powers recently, I don't think. And I'm really cold, I keep shivering."

Maddie frowned, then pulled off one of her gloves to lay her hand on Danny's forehead. The moment she touched him, however, she pulled her hand away with a hiss.

Startled, Danny also backed away, almost falling out of his chair as he did so.

"Sorry, sorry. But I can confirm it's not a fever, or at least, not the human kind." She smiled, a little shaky and uncertain but calming nonetheless. "You're freezing, sweetie. No wonder you're feeling cold."

"Oh," he said, settling down again. "But I don't normally feel cold. I only ever feel it when my ghost sense activates, and even then it's just for a short moment."

"Maybe it's linked?" Jack offered. "Like how your ecto-shields are a more advanced version of your ecto-blasts?"

"Maybe," Danny allowed. Then he scoffed. "But what would that be, anyway? My ghost sense is just a breath of cold air."

"Well, either way, we should go to the lab to make sure you're okay. We'll call you in sick today." She put her glove back on, already moving to grab the phone to do so.

At the same moment, Jazz came in. Seeing Danny wearing a blanket, she raised an eyebrow, posing a silent question.

Danny grinned, seeing a prime opportunity for a pun. He shivered, _again_, pulling the blanket even tighter. Then he answered Jazz's unasked question. "I've got a _cold_." He made sure to put extra emphasis on the final word.

Jack barked out a loud laugh. Jazz just frowned, understanding the pun but not the context. She shook her head, focusing on her breakfast. "So you're not going to school, then?"

"Nah," he confirmed. "Mom's calling me in sick. Gotta make sure I'm not, y'know, _dying_."

"But you think it's a new power, right, Danny-boy?" Jack grinned at him, leaning forward.

"Maybe." He shrugged. "But I don't know what it would be. Normally if I get them, they're while I'm actively using my powers. Kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing."

"So you have no idea what it might be, either?" Jazz asked as she sat down with her breakfast.

"No," Danny answered, at the same as his dad declared, "I think it might be linked to his ghost sense!"

Jazz looked between the two of them for a moment, expression uncertain. Then she turned to their dad. "How so?"

Danny sighed. "It's because I'm feeling cold, just like when my ghost sense triggered. But my ghost sense just makes _me_ feel cold. According to mom, I feel like I'm freezing! That's not something it does."

"But like I said, it might be a more advanced version!" Jack clapped his hands together, enthusiastic. "Something even colder… Like icy breath! That's something that that pajamas ghost does, right?"

Danny groaned, dragging his hands down his face. "I guess so. But I don't know how I feel about developing the same power as _Klemper_." He said the name with distaste, screwing up his face.

Jazz opened her mouth to say… something, Danny was sure, but she was interrupted by Maddie returning. "Well, Danny, they're not _happy_, but I managed to convince them to let you stay home. Although we will probably have to explain how you got sick despite being a ghost."

"We can always tell them it was a ghostly sickness?" Danny tried, before he shrugged. "You two have the authority to declare it possible, even if it isn't."

"I suppose we might have to, as much as I dislike lying about such a thing." She sighed, shoulders sagging a little. "Have you three made any progress on figuring out what is wrong?"

"Well, if it _is_ a new power," Jack boomed, a face-splitting grin on his face. "It's probably something like the icy breath that that pajama ghost uses. What did you call him again, Danny?"

"The Friendly Fiend," Jazz declared, a confident look on her face.

"Klemper," Danny groaned, considering slamming his face into the table. He ended up deciding against it, but just barely. "His name is Klemper, Jazz."

He rolled his eyes, focusing back on the actual conversation. "And I'm still not sure if it _is_ a new power. Yes, they make me feel tired, but they don't come with side effects. Well, none besides the lack of control."

"Well, let's take this to the lab, then. Even if it _is_ just a new power, we'll have to make sure that your low body temperature isn't hurting you." Maddie turned to Jazz, who was getting up as well. "And Jazz, sweetie, you should probably head out soon. It's still a long drive back to college."

Jazz nodded, cleaning up her breakfast dishes. "Yeah. Call me when you guys know more?"

"We will," Danny assured, as he got up too. "Don't worry so much."

She snorted, ruffling his hair as she walked past him. "Always will, little brother."

He stuck out his tongue, even if she couldn't see him. Fondness bubbled inside him, like always when she played the overbearing protective sister, even if he never let her know. He didn't know what he would have done without her.

* * *

Despite several attempts at using his supposed new power, nothing had changed. No sudden icy breath, and his ghost sense seemed to be acting as usual too.

Swaddling him in warm clothing and heating blankets made _him_ feel warm, but his body temperature didn't rise. This, in turn, led to the conclusion that he must be generating the cold in his own body.

This didn't help any, however, since they couldn't determine _how_ or _why_.

They _could_, however, determine that it wasn't hurting him. And it wasn't doing anything, either, besides making him feel really cold.

And so they decided that, as long as he swaddled himself up properly, he was fit to return to school the next day. He just had to try to avoid touching anyone.

Which, of course, turned out to be easier said than done.

* * *

Danny was next to his locker, quickly swapping his books for the ones he needed next lesson. It was a class he sadly didn't share with Sam and Tucker, so the two of them had left for theirs already.

The hallways were starting to empty out, as the time between classes ran low. Danny finally slammed his locker closed, ready to rush to his next class-

and then promptly ran into a solid wall made out of flesh.

"Dash," he groaned, not even bothering to look up. "Do we really have to do this right now?"

The quarterback in question scoffed. "What, you thought that those stupid rumors would get you out of a beating? Get real, _Fentonio_."

"It's not like I came up with them!" Danny tried to protest, but Dash pushed him back against the lockers.

"Either way, you must've been hoping that they would deter me from bullying you, yeah?" Dash growled, grabbing the sleeves of Danny's shirt to slam him against the lockers again. "After all, who would bully a _ghost_?" He slammed Danny against the lockers a third time, then released him.

Danny just slumped against the lockers, glaring at the other boy. He considered talking back, but honestly, he was too tired to deal with this shit.

Apparently that wasn't okay with Dash, however. The boy growled again, baring his teeth in a snarl. "What, nothing to say?"

Danny remained silent. He knew that it didn't make a difference whether he responded or not. Either way, Dash would probably try to punch him a few times before giving up. _Maybe_ try to stuff him in a locker, but Dash usually didn't do that anymore these days. Not to Danny, at least.

"Guess I'll just have to _make_ you talk, Fentina!"

Dash swiped at Danny, reaching for his shirt again. Only, this time, Danny automatically flinched away, raising his bare arm to block Dash.

Hissing, Dash pulled his hand away from Danny again. "What the hell, Fenton?"

"I, uh," was Danny's intelligent answer as he pressed flat against the lockers. He was freaking out, scouring his brain for a way to talk himself out of this.

Dash stepped closer again, hesitantly raising his hand towards Danny. Then, surprisingly gently, he grabbed Danny's arm again. This time, however, he held on instead of letting go instantly.

"You're _freezing_, dude. What the hell?" Dash's tone was perplexed, utterly and absolutely confused. The frown on his face told the same story. "I thought only ghosts… Oh."

Finally Dash released Danny's arm. Danny cradled his arm against his chest, grimacing. He really couldn't think of a way to explain this. Crap, of _course_ this had to happen when there was no one to help him out.

"Dash, it's not what you think." He tried to sound confident, reassuring. He didn't think he succeeded, based on Dash's doubtful expression.

"Yeah? You got some way to explain how you're as cold as a corpse that _doesn't_ involve you being a ghost?"

"Uhm, well..." Danny trailed off, before falling silent.

"So the rumors were true? Holy shit," muttered Dash. "Holy shit. Oh, fuck. You're fucking _dead_, dude."

"Thanks for the clarification, Dash. Hadn't noticed," Danny snarked, unable to resist the temptation. He really shouldn't, should be talking his way out of this instead. But even on his best days he wasn't a very good liar. And, well, with the ghostly cold thing… He didn't think he _could_ talk his way out of this. Better to get it over with, and to try to do some damage control later.

Dash had started to back away, eyes blown wide. He took his eyes off of Danny, however, in favor of looking at his own hands. "Did I… Was I…" His voice was quiet, a whisper that Danny struggled to understand.

"'Did you' what, Dash?" he bit.

"D-Did I do i-it?" the boy finally stammered out, looking back at Danny.

"What?" Danny quirked an eyebrow, confused at the turn this conversation had taken. Why would Dash think…

Oh, the bullying. Did Dash think that Danny killed himself because he was _bullied_? No way.

Although… He _did_ know a ghost who had died because of exactly that. Maybe it wasn't that weird of a concept.

"Dash, no," he finally replied, snapping out of his thoughts. "I didn't _kill_ _myself_ or something like that."

"So… It's got nothing to do with… with my bullying?" The boy had lost all of his usual confidence and bluster. Danny always imagined knocking Dash down a peg, but it wasn't nearly as fun as he had thought. Kinda sad, really.

"No, Dash," he repeated, moving to lay a hand on Dash's shoulder before remembering his low body temperature. "It was just an accident. Nobody is to blame, and definitely not you."

"Huh. So then… Bullying hasn't hurt anyone after all!" Dash grinned, punching his fist into his open palm.

Blanching, Danny raised his hands in front of him. "I wouldn't say that! Aside from the fact that the punching _very much_ hurts people, I know _at least_ one ghost who killed himself because he was being bullied."

"Oh." Dash lowered his hands again, frowning.

Suddenly he swung his fist out towards Danny. Reacting on pure instincts, he turned himself intangible.

Dash's fist flew through the ghost boy, hitting the lockers behind him at full force.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, clenching his fist and glaring at Danny. "Fucking freak! You're gonna pay, Fen-_Turd_."

Then the boy whirled around, storming off. Baffled, Danny watched him go, now alone in the empty hallway.

* * *

"I'm fucked. I'm absolutely _completely_ fucked," Danny groaned into the table his head was lying on.

Sitting opposite of him at the Nasty Burger, Sam and Tucker shared a glance. Danny had told them what had happened, of course. And they had been telling him all day that it would be fine, that they would figure it out. It hadn't helped against Danny's mild panicking. Not enough, at least.

"Danny, it's okay. You'll be fine," Sam attempted to soothe. Again.

"Nope," Danny answered, with his face still flat on the table. "Because those rumors were already nuts. And now Dash knows, and he's gonna reaffirm them. And then the guns come out."

"_Danny_," Sam said, her tone scolding. "No one is going to _shoot_ you. Even if they _do_ all believe you're a ghost, the police is on your side, remember? You have permission to be here."

He groaned, but didn't immediately answer. She was right about that, of course. But it wasn't really the shooting it was worried about.

Because yes, the police were on the side of Danny Fenton, the dead kid who just wanted to live his life. Danny Fenton, who didn't behave like a ghost, who never used his powers.

But if everyone knew he was a ghost… Well, it was just the first step to figuring out he was Phantom, ghostly protector of Amity Park.

He wasn't an idiot, despite what people thought. He knew people noticed the similarities between Fenton and Phantom. But they always ignored it, ignored the obvious evidence. Because of two things, and only two things.

First of all, despite the clear visual similarities, Fenton and Phantom were nothing alike. Fenton was cowardly and shy. He never achieved anything, had no sense of responsibility. And Phantom was the complete opposite. A brave hero who went out of his way to protect a town that didn't appreciate him.

And second, of course, was his best protection.

Because no one was looking for a ghost among humans. A ghost couldn't be alive, so it made no sense for a ghostly superhero to have a human alter ego.

Except, whoopsie. He wasn't so _human_, was he? And if everyone thought he was a ghost… Well, bye-bye secret identity!

A hand landing on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts, and he glanced up at Sam's worried face.

Grimacing, he pushed himself back into a proper sitting position. "Sorry, it's not that. It's just… Being a human, being _alive…_ that was always my best protection against being accused of being Phantom." He shrugged, uncertain. "And now… now that won't work anymore."

"Actually," Tucker said, leaning forward with a conspiring look on his face. "I think that everyone thinking that you're a ghost will help."

"No way." Danny shook his head, frowning. He couldn't imagine so. Even if Tucker probably had a reason to believe otherwise, he highly doubted it.

Sam apparently thought otherwise, however. "Explain it to him," she coaxed. Oh, she must've already known about Tucker's theory, then. Maybe they had even come up with it together.

"Right, so. If they think that black-haired and blue-eyed Danny Fenton is a ghost, they're not gonna assume that he has a second, slightly more ghostly appearance as well." Tucker gestured wildly with his hands as he was explaining.

"I mean, look at all the ghosts we know with 'human' appearances." He made sure to make air quotes when he said 'human'. "_If_ they think Danny Fenton has a second form, they're gonna expect something _way_ different, more like Spectra or Bertrand or something."

"Huh… I guess you have a point," Danny admitted, crossing his arms in front of him. "Even Plasmius looks more ghostly than Phantom."

"See, Danny? Nothing to be worried about." Sam smiled at him.

Danny sighed, but allowed himself to relax. They were right, both of them. He would be fine.

* * *

Title is from How Far We've Come by Matchbox 20. And we're slowly escalating to the longer chapters of Disinterred. Hooray!

We've also finally reconnected with canon and its events. Like mentioned at the start of the fic, most of the previous events were set between Forever Phantom and Urban Jungle. But now we're finally creeping beyond that and into Urban Jungle proper - but in a canon divergent way.

Next week: Chapter 11 - It's Not What You Believe


	11. It's Not What You Believe

**Chapter 11: ****It's Not What You Believe**

Against all expectations, Danny's cold had worsened even further overnight. He had woken up on Thursday with his bed _frozen solid_. He quite honestly wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed until his alarm had woken him up.

His parents decided that with his symptoms worsening it would be safest if he remained home. Danny wasn't sure if they were thinking about _his_ safety, or his classmates', but he agreed either way.

Unfortunately, the knowledge that it likely _was_ a new power didn't make it any easier for them to fix it. They spend all of Thursday trying to find ways for him to actually _use_ the power. They tried everything, every iteration of ice powers they could think of. Tucker had even looked up any comic superheroes with ice powers to see if Danny could mimic them.

It was on Friday that he woke up with the tips of his hair frozen and frost crawling along his walls. It had, thankfully, mostly stuck to his room, so the others hadn't suffered too much.

At the breakfast table, he had been loudly complaining about the fact that he didn't know any ghosts with ice powers outside of Klemper, so he couldn't ask for help.

And then he had remembered the Far Frozen.

After repeatedly slamming his head into the table and complaining about his own stupidity, he had told his parents about Frostbite and his yetis. They hadn't been thrilled to hear that Danny and his friends had visited the Ghost Zone, _multiple times_, but they decided to focus on the problem at hand. _For now_.

Frostbite himself had been more than accommodating, gladly training Danny with his new power. Warned that his new power might be a little… dangerous, at first.

Danny had heeded the warning, and made sure his parents were kept away.

They hadn't been too pleased, of course, but after Frostbite's people had led them into a ghostly medical facility… Well, they hadn't wanted to let the opportunity to learn more about ghosts slip by. Besides, the opportunity to learn more about ghostly medicine could be useful to help Danny, as well.

It took Danny a little while to get better control over his ice powers, but Frostbite's guidance helped. By the end of the day, Frostbite declared him capable enough to finish training at home.

* * *

By the time Monday rolled around, Danny had more or less gotten control over his new ice powers. Well, he had enough control over them not to accidentally freeze himself anymore.

So he was thus declared fit for school. Again.

Unfortunately, his new cryokinesis seemed to have permanently lowered his body temperature. It wasn't _very_ noticeable, except if people touched him. Or so they said. Danny himself couldn't tell the difference, honestly.

It wasn't _great_, but not the worst, either. Danny thought that it was an improvement over earlier, at least. Now at least he wasn't as cold as a corpse. Or a full ghost. Just… a little too cold for a living human being. That was fine. He could work with that.

His return to school… wasn't great. As he had feared, Dash had helped spread along the rumors of his ghostly nature. And his absence of several days hadn't helped his case either.

So the moment Danny stepped through the doors of Casper High, a heavy silence fell. The crowds just _watched_, a few quietly whispering to each other. Danny couldn't tell what they were saying, but he didn't have to. He was pretty sure he already knew.

Still, with a skill borne from many years of practice, Danny ignored the now-silent crowd. He made his way to his locker, the people around him parting to let him through. Vaguely, Danny wondered _why_. If they believed him to be a ghost, wouldn't it make more sense to stand in his way? So he would have to turn intangible to go through them?

Maybe they didn't want to anger him, then. That made some amount of sense, at least, considering the type of ghosts Amity was familiar with. Maybe Dash had even bolstered the rumors, saying that Danny had attacked him Wednesday. That sounded like something the bully would do, to hide the fact that he hurt himself with his own stupidity.

Not that that helped Danny any, but still. He would take any positives he could find, considering the circumstances.

He calmly unlocked his locker, going through business as usual. Completely ignored the crowd that had formed. Of course, his fellow students didn't like that.

They all believed the rumors, even before Dash had told them he had seen Danny use his ghostly abilities. So now _they_ wanted to see it with their own eyes. Wanted proof of Danny's ghostly nature.

Proof that Danny didn't want to give them.

He finished packing his bag as the warning bell rung. He turned to walk to the classroom.

The crowd didn't move. A few stragglers went off to their classrooms, but apparently the majority thought that this was more important than class. Were willing to risk detention, just to see if Danny really _was_ a ghost. Or maybe they just thought that Danny would cave before the lessons actually started.

Either way, they had formed themselves into a rather impressive obstacle. Danny internally complained about the fact that neither Sam nor Tucker had their lockers nearby. They would probably notice the crowds and come looking for him, but he wasn't sure how long that would take.

_Not very long_, he silently decided as he saw people in the crowd getting shoved aside. So Sam, probably. Even after years of ghost hunting, Tucker wasn't the most physically impressive person.

A person finally burst out of the crowd, the people along the edge stumbling away from her.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Hey Va-"

She had grabbed his arm before he finished speaking, bodily dragging him through the gathered students.

Once they emerged from the group of teenagers, she released him again. He shot her a thankful smile. "Uh, thanks?"

"Yeah, no problem." She shrugged, suddenly looking a lot more uncertain than Danny had ever seen Valerie. "I, uh. Figured you needed a hand, after hearing the rumor mill go wild."

"And my absence hasn't helped, I imagine." Danny grimaced, shouldering his backpack properly. "We should… probably head to class."

Valerie nodded, although Danny wasn't sure which of a statements it was an answer to. Both, probably. "You know what also hasn't helped your status? Dash saying that you beat him up using ghost powers."

Danny snorted. "Beat him up? I didn't even _do_ anything. He just freaked out, and then tried to punch me, and I did… Well, I did the same thing as during our last conversation, when _you_ tried to punch me."

"Wait." Valerie turned to face him again. "You're saying that you accidentally fed the rumor mill because Dash tried to punch you? Despite the fact that he's been doing so for _years_?"

"Oh, no, no." Danny raised his hands placatingly. "He had already figured it out. I kind of… had trouble with a new ability, which is why I was out the rest of the week."

"That makes more sense. But still, just a little intangibility wouldn't have freaked him out so bad, would it?"

"Well," Danny said, grimacing again. "I think I hurt his pride a little. He sort of… hit the lockers behind me, when he tried to punch me?"

"Yeah, that sounds like Dash alright. Defeated by a non-violent ghost and a row of lockers." Valerie rolled her eyes but smiled at Danny. "Although I have to say that I _am_ curious about this new power of yours."

Danny hummed, noncommittally. They had almost reached the classroom. This private conversation had to end soon. "I can tell you all about it during lunch, if you want? About… ghostly stuff in general?" He didn't think that she would accept, but he wanted to offer anyway. If Valerie eased up on her no-ghosts policy, or if his knowledge could help keep her _and_ Amity safe…

"Yeah," Valerie agreed, snapping Danny out of his thoughts again. "That sounds good."

They had reached the door of the classroom, stepping through it as the bell rung. As they made their ways to their seats, Danny mouthed at Valerie, '_see you at lunch'_.

* * *

Danny had taken one look at his usual table before he had walked outside. Yes, it was barely spring, but Valerie could bundle up. He had noticed over the past few days that the cold didn't really bother him anymore, which he assumed to be a side-effect from his new ice powers.

Besides, no one _else_ was stupid enough to sit outside while it was still so cold. They were practically guaranteed privacy.

Valerie apparently hadn't thought of it that way, based on the way her face was twisted in anger. She sat down with force, practically growling at them. "_Why-_"

"We kind of needed privacy, Val. And with the rumors being what they are..." Danny shrugged at her. He knew she was smart enough to know what he was trying to say.

She kept up the glare for a little longer before sighing, her shoulders sagging immediately. "Alright, fine. I guess you have a point." She unzipped her bag, pulling out her lunch. "So… Where are Sam and Tucker?"

"Inside," Danny said, grabbing his own lunch. "I figured you would be more comfortable if it was just the two of us."

She stared at him, as if trying to judge his intentions. Then she sighed and nodded. "Fair enough. Anyway, to get back to the point…" She cocked an eyebrow. "You mentioned a new power?"

"Uh, yeah." He silently wished he hadn't mentioned it, earlier. If he showed her _his_ ice powers, then Phantom couldn't be seen suddenly wielding cryokinesis. Valerie would _definitely_ connect the dots, and Danny wasn't ready for that. Not yet. "It's…" _Think, Fenton_, he pushed himself. _Come up with a good idea… _How do you cover for ice powers? Oh, _duh_.

"I can't trigger it on purpose, but it's a ghost sense. Like a build-in ghost scanner." He smiled at her, hoping that she would buy it.

"Really?" she asked, leaning forward. "That's pretty convenient." She let the silence linger for a little longer as she sat back again. Finally she spoke again. "Do ghosts often spontaneously develop new powers?"

It wasn't as innocent a question as Valerie was pretending, but Danny didn't mind. If Valerie knew more about ghosts, actual_ proper_ information, it would help her. "Not usually, no. Usually they have a set list of abilities, and developing a new one is coupled with a major shift in power." He smiled a little sheepishly at her. "We're… not sure what made me develop a new one so suddenly."

"Huh." Valerie frowned, and took a bite of her lunch. Danny did the same, after checking that his lunch hadn't been ectoplasmically tainted. Sure, the ectoplasm didn't hurt him anymore, but that didn't mean it was _tasty_. And it's not like he needed the extra ectoplasm, either.

Valerie kept watching him, and Danny was starting to feel a little uneasy under her unwavering stare. He wasn't sure what to say, however.

Finally, Valerie was the one to break the silence. "Do ghosts… Is it normal for ghosts to eat?" She grimaced, like she realized that the question sounded ruder than she had intended.

"Some do, some don't." Danny shrugged, shooting her an easy smile, showing that he didn't mind her unintentional rudeness. "Pretty sure most ghosts don't _need_ to, since they can get their energy from the Ghost Zone. But a lot of ghosts that died recently still _like_ to eat." Then he raised his sandwich in example. "Personally, I kinda need to eat to keep up my energy levels, since I don't really spend time in the Zone."

"That… makes sense," Valerie agreed, nodding. "I can't imagine just _not_ eating anymore, especially if I'm around other people." She fingered the bracelet on her wrist, twisting it around a few times. "Do you… Are you uncomfortable talking about… these kind of things?"

"Depends," Danny said, making a face. "I don't mind, per se. But some people..." He shivered for show, but then smiled at her. "But I'm fine with, well," he gestured around vaguely, "_this_. Talking about it with you."

"Really?" Valerie raised an eyebrow at him. "Even though I'm a ghost hunter?"

"Val, you're my _friend_. Besides, you've already told me that you don't mind, well, _me_. And you wouldn't have dragged me out of that crowd this morning if you had changed your mind."

"True." She sighed, shoulders sagging down even further. "It's just… This whole time, I've been driven by… by _anger_, by _hatred_. I told myself that all ghosts are evil, and that they didn't deserve to exist. Not in Amity Park. And now..." She looked at him, forlorn.

"And now I've diverted from that, huh?" He sighed too. "I can't help you with the anger, with your motivation for hunting. _But_, if you want to keep it up… I can teach you more about ghosts?"

"Really?" Valerie leaned forwards, curiosity clear on her face. "You would… do that? For me?"

"Of course." Danny shoved the rest of his sandwich into his mouth, and twisted around to sit more comfortably. "I'll tell you more about whatever you want to know, provided that I actually know it."

"But?" Valerie asked, catching onto the silent hook. She sat back again, crossing her arms.

"_But_," Danny pressed, "I want you to hear me out about Phantom. I don't know _what_, exactly, you have against him, and I don't care. I'm not gonna try to change your mind. I just want you to listen to _my_ perspective, as a ghost. Okay?"

Valerie frowned, and they sat in silence for a bit. Then she sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess I can do that." She uncrossed her arms again, laying them on the table between them. "But only because I trust you, Danny."

He grinned at her. "Appreciate it. So, where should we start?"

Valerie didn't answer immediately, clearly thinking her answer over. Danny let her. No need to push her, as long as she would allow him to talk about Phantom later. He only hoped that she would listen, would understand.

"How about… Why do ghosts come into Amity Park so often?" Her gaze was calculating, but not in a cold way. Danny could always appreciate how _focused_ Valerie was, even if he was often the target of said focus.

"Well, there's a number of reasons, really." He made a face. "For ghosts who just want to visit the human plane, Amity is an easy way out because of the Fenton Portal, and because natural portals open up a lot around here. As for _why_ they would want to leave the Zone..." he trailed off, thinking over his options.

"Well, it's not exactly a cheery place. I imagine it gets boring pretty quick, if you spend your entire afterlife there. And that's not even mentioning the ghosts with, y'know, actual plans and stuff."

"Do you know a lot of them?" Valerie asked. "Ghosts, I mean."

Danny shrugged. "I know a good number by name and appearance, but then, who doesn't? If you're asking for ghostly friends… A couple, but none of them come here. It's kind of… dangerous."

"Oh." Now Valerie looked troubled. "So if they don't come here… How did you meet them?"

Danny bit his lips, considering his options. "Well, most of them have come here before. Wulf and Dora have both… caused trouble, in the past. But they were forced to. Frostbite I met while exploring the Zone."

"None of those sound familiar to me. Could you… tell me who they are?" She looked doubtful, but in true Valerie fashion, powered through nonetheless. "So I can… avoid hunting them?"

Danny blinked, somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Valerie to change her mind so easily, and about ghosts she hadn't even _met_ yet. "Uh, sure? Although I doubt that you'll ever come across any besides maybe Wulf. Dora and Frostbite both run kingdoms in the Zone, so even besides the danger, they can't really leave. Wulf, though… He just kind of goes wherever. He's… Well, he's a giant bipedal wolf, basically." Danny shot her a smile at her stunned face. "Big, very furry, black with green eyes. Kinda slobbery. Oh," Danny snapped his fingers. "And he only speaks Esperanto."

"How did you even… How did you befriend him?" Valerie looked rather stunned.

"Tucker speaks Esperanto, so he could translate for me. As for _why_, well. Kind of an 'enemy of my enemy' kinda deal, at least at first." He shrugged.

"You have… enemies? Wait, does that mean you can _fight_?" Now she really looked perplexed. Whoops.

"I have… some. Walker is a real big jerk, but luckily he doesn't leave the Zone very often." Danny grimaced. "He runs a prison in the Zone, but he makes up his own rules and then arrests you for breaking them. I, uh. May have gotten myself arrested."

"Danny," Valerie groaned, laying her head on the table. "_How_?"

"Well, one of his favorite made-up rules is that apparently 'real world' items aren't allowed in the Zone. And while cleaning the lab I kind of… knocked my parents' anniversary gift through the Portal, so I went to retrieve it." Danny scowled, crossing his arms and leaning them on the table. "Walker caught me and arrested me for my troubles."

"Wow, he _is_ a jerk. Has he ever come into Amity?" Danny recognized the fury burning in Valerie's eyes, and was rather glad to see it aimed at someone other than him, for once. Besides, Walker deserved it, unlike most of her targets.

"Yeah, once. Him and a bunch of his minions were responsible for the first ghost invasion, overshadowed a bunch of people around the city. Phantom tried to fight him off, but Walker was overshadowing the major, and… Well, you know what happened after that."

"You mean… when Phantom kidnapped the major?" Valerie was frowning at him, now, thoughtful. "Did- Was he _framed_? By another ghost?"

"Yup," Danny said, nodding. "From what I saw, Walker grabbed Phantom and dragged him outside. I could tell that the major was overshadowed, but, well… Not much I could do with that knowledge."

"No," Valerie agreed, before groaning. "And I guess that the robberies had an actual reason, too?"

Danny snorted, ignoring the icky feelings he got whenever he thought of _that_. The feeling of losing control over his own body, over _himself_, like that… He still wasn't over it. "Correct. The ringleader of that goth circus thing, he had a staff that could control ghosts. Phantom tried to fight off a few robbing ghosts, got himself dragged into the business as thanks."

"Oh," Valerie muttered. "I guess… I guess that I was maybe a little too quick to judge."

"Maybe so. But, Val, everybody makes mistakes." He leaned forward with a smile. "That's just what makes us human, y'know?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess you're right." She cracked a smile. "Thanks, Danny."

She opened her mouth to say more, but the bell rung and cut her off. She turned to look at the school, and then sighed. "Guess we better get back to class. But seriously, thanks." She shouldered her backpack, then shot him another smile. "And, I'm here for you. No matter what. Okay?"

Danny smiled back. "Of course."

* * *

Title from "How Did You Love" by Shinedown. Aaaaaand that was Urban Jungle. Or, well, the one plot point I carried over from that episode. I guess I could've properly written out the first part of this chapter, which would've been interesting... but I didn't when I wrote this story so. Live and learn, right? I was very focused on the plot during this story, which I think cost me opportunities to show and develop the characters. But this is just random introspection so eh, ignore me.  
Also I love Valerie and I love writing her. She's a fun character!

Next week, Disinterred's longest chapter: Chapter 12 - And You Will See Me Now


	12. And You Will See Me Now

**Chapter 12: And You Will See Me Now**

The ghost scanner went off, and Valerie barely restrained a groan. She had really hoped to work on her homework for once.

Briefly she considered just leaving the ghost to Phantom. Her talk with Danny, combined with her talk with Phantom a little over a week ago, had settled her mind on the ghost boy. She had grown increasingly convinced that he wasn't as malevolent as she had previously assumed. And so she was sure she could trust him to protect the city.

But then she caught the reading of her scanner. One fairly strong ghost nearby, with another approaching quickly. Her scanner made quick work of determining the first one: Skulker, a hunter-type ghost who regularly haunted Amity.

She didn't need her tech to tell her that the second was Phantom, racing over from wherever he was when he wasn't fighting.

Sure, Phantom could probably handle this himself. But Skulker had made it to Elmerton, where people weren't quite as used to fleeing from ghost attacks. And the hunter had a bad habit of firing missiles and other weaponry, which were dangerous for onlookers.

Before she had fully considered it, Valerie had suited up and launched herself out of her window. If anything, this would be a good opportunity to offer Phantom another truce. A more permanent one, maybe. They had worked together against Skulker before, after all.

It wasn't hard to find the fight. In the slowly decreasing light, the flashes of bright green were easy to spot. Apparently Phantom had made it to Skulker before her. Valerie wondered for a moment how quickly Phantom could fly, but dismissed the thought almost immediately. She had to focus on the fight.

Skulker was focused entirely on Phantom, who was zipping through the sky, dodging shots. Neither of them had seen Valerie approach. She smirked to herself, and quietly readied a gun. What kind of shitty hunter didn't watch their environment?

The pink blast hit Skulker in the wing, badly damaging it and causing him to falter mid-air. His shots went wide, giving Phantom a chance to break away as well.

"Who-!" the metallic ghost whirled around, readying his gun to shoot Valerie back. She kept her stance steady, ready to dart out of the way if he fired.

And then a green blast hit Skulker's other wing.

"Hey tin can, don't forget about me!" Phantom jeered, as another blast was building up in his hand.

Skulker growled wordlessly, unable to keep an eye on both enemies at once. Apparently he decided that Phantom was the bigger threat, however, since he fired his shot at the other ghost. Phantom, in turn, dodged effortlessly.

Valerie fired another shot into Skulker's back to teach him for forgetting about her.

"You little-" the ghost started, but he never got to finish as Phantom landed another blast, this time hitting Skulker's neck. A dreadful _snap_ sounded, and suddenly Skulker's body went limp as his head disconnected.

Phantom zipped in and caught the head, as Valerie froze in shock. Sure, maybe ghosts didn't work the same way as humans, but she had never seen Phantom do anything this _ruthless_. He decapitated another ghost!

And to make matters worse, the ghost boy stuck his hand _inside_ the neck of the other ghost. What the fuck was he doing?

"Ah ha!" Phantom exclaimed, pulling his hand back and dropping the metal head.

And in his hand was… another ghost? Small and green and squirmy, it was clearly trying to escape from the teenage ghost holding it.

"Let go of me!" it yelled, its voice strangely high-pitched. "Let go of me, whelp! I am Skulker! Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!"

Oh. That was… an unexpected twist. Maybe she had judged Phantom a little too quickly. _Again_.

"Yeah, yeah." Phantom looked as bored as he sounded. With the hand that had previously been holding the head, he grasped the Thermos strapped to his belt. "Just get in the Thermos already."

And then in a flash the squirmy ghost was gone. Phantom lowered himself to the ground, and sucked the body (suit?) up as well. And then he turned to look at her.

"Hey Red, thanks for the help. He didn't hit you, right?"

"Uh, no." She lowered herself a little as well, and watched as Phantom came up to her level again. "He was too focused on you to fire at me."

Phantom apparently picked up on her silent distress, because he frowned at her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. It's just..." She wasn't sure what to say. How do you tell a ghost that you thought that it violently attacked and decapitated another ghost?

"You didn't know that it was just a suit, did you?" Phantom laughed. He _laughed_. "Don't worry, I had a similar reaction the first time I saw his suit get wrecked."

"Oh." Valerie slumped in a little, relieved. "How come I never noticed before, then?"

"Coincidence, I think." Phantom shrugged, clipping the Thermos back onto his belt. "I usually try to destroy the suit instead of sucking it up, so he'll take longer to come back. But we're in the middle of the city, and sometimes he packs them with explosive weaponry. Don't want to risk causing unnecessary damage."

"That… makes sense."

Valerie allowed the silence to linger for a moment. Then she remembered her intentions to make up for her earlier behavior towards Phantom.

"Actually, I, uh. Wanted to talk to you."

"Again?" Phantom questioned, quirking a brow at her. "Is it related to you helping me fight Skulker instead of shooting me down as well?"

Valerie grimaced, glad that her helmet hid her expressions from the ghost. "Uh, yeah. I… was wrong about ghosts. About _you_."

"Really?" Phantom grinned at her, a genuine smile on his face. Valerie wasn't sure if she had ever seen the ghost with a smile that wasn't shit-eating or a smirk before… but she kind of liked it.

"Yeah." She nodded. "And… I'm sorry. For, y'know, shooting you. And blaming you for everything that has happened to me."

"You don't know how much that means to me." But Valerie was pretty sure she _did_ know. Phantom's expression was a pretty clear indicator. He would've made a pretty terrible poker player. Or actor, for that matter. Why did she ever think otherwise?

But then the ghost sighed, closing off again. "And I would love to talk about it more. But..." He glanced upwards, at the steadily darkening sky. "I have somewhere I need to be. Can we… meet up again? Tomorrow, maybe?"

Valerie blinked, surprised. She hadn't expected him to forgive her this easily. Heavens know _she_ wouldn't have, if she had been in his shoes.

"Uh, sure? When, and where?"

Phantom shrugged. "Somewhere private, definitely. And after you're done with school?"

"The abandoned warehouses near the docks, then?" And then her brain processed the second part of his sentence, and her expression darkened. "Wait a minute, how do you know when I'm done with school?"

Phantom snorted. "I spend a lot of time near the school because ghosts keep attacking it, so I have a pretty good idea when people get out. And I can wait for you at the docks, you can find me with your scanner, right?"

"That's… fair." He was right, of course. Ghosts attacked the school constantly. Even if Phantom stayed away outside of attacks, which she kind of doubted, he still would've picked up on their schedules. "So the warehouses, after school?"

"Yeah," Phantom agreed, with a nod. Then he glanced at the sky again and grimaced. "And I really gotta get going. See you tomorrow, Red."

And with a short wave he launched himself away, racing upwards and towards Amity. Valerie watched him go, but soon lost track of him.

He could _definitely_ out-fly her hoverboard.

* * *

Valerie's hoverboard hummed quietly as she flew towards the docks. She wasn't going very fast, instead using the quiet time to think.

The whole day, her meeting with Phantom had hung over her. She couldn't predict him, didn't know what he wanted or why.

She had also spend more time with Danny. She wanted to make sure that he was okay, that no one was bothering him. She couldn't imagine being a ghost, and she _definitely_ couldn't imagine having to live with such rumors. She was sure she would've gone crazy the first week, if it had been her.

Hanging with Danny… was surprisingly nice. Sam and Tucker were with him, of course, as usual. But for once, they weren't hostile to her.

And she understood why they had been, of course. They all knew that she was a ghost hunter, and Danny was a ghost. They were simply trying to protect their friend.

Their friend, who very _stupidly_ befriended a ghost hunter.

She wondered if his lack of self-preservation was a ghost thing, or if Danny had always been like that. Because she could _very easily _imagine him getting himself killed, doing things like this.

But she appreciated it. Danny was a fantastic friend, unlike her 'friends' from the A-List. And Sam and Tucker were clearly warming up to her as well, now that she was protecting Danny's secret too.

Valerie broke out of her thoughts at the sound of her ghost scanner. She had arrived at the docks already, and her scanner had picked up Phantom's presence. She followed the trail to one of the abandoned warehouses.

Hovering over the somewhat rickety roof, Valerie didn't have to wait long for Phantom to show. He faded into visibility almost instantly, posture only slightly tense.

"Hey Val," Phantom greeted her, a soft smile on his face. She squashed her automatic response, which was to reprimand him for using her name, and instead smiled back. Then she remembered that she was wearing a helmet, and retracted it back into her suit.

"No plans to get to today?"

"Nothing for the moment." Phantom shrugged. Then he lowered himself, his white boots soundlessly touching down on the roof. "Well, besides this, of course."

"Right." Valerie made to follow his example, but took another look at the roof and decided against it. Instead she disengaged the locks on her boots and sat down on the board. "So, Phantom… How do you feel about a truce?"

"Pretty good," Phantom said, his smile widening. "Although I wouldn't mind working together more often, either. We made a pretty good team against Skulker yesterday."

"True." But there were complications with that plan. Things that Phantom clearly hadn't considered, being a ghost and all. "And I don't mind working together, but… I have a busy life, Phantom. I can't go out and hunt ghosts all day, y'know?"

Phantom's smile fell some, and he sighed. "No, I get it. But we can work together without actually _fighting_ together. Share responsibility over the weaker ones, and work together to fight the stronger ghosts."

"That… could work." But she would prefer it if Phantom took care of _all_ the weak ghosts. It wasn't like he had anything better to do, and _she_ had work and school to focus on. "But Phantom… I have other responsibilities too. I'm already doing bad enough in school as-is."

"And I'm not?" Phantom retorted with a frown, crossing his arms.

_What?_ But he couldn't… Phantom couldn't go to school, could he? Even if the ghosts have some sort of school in the Ghost Zone, Phantom spent too much time in the regular world to attend. And he couldn't go to a human school either. Although he _is_ very human in appearance, he has also become far too recognizable.

Unless… he uses some sort of disguise? But the only school near Amity Park is Casper High, and a disguise wouldn't protect Phantom from her scanners.

But Phantom sighed and snapped her out of her thoughts again. "Sorry. You're right, you _do_ have more responsibilities than me." He had turned away from her, but she could see the tense lines of his muscles. Or, what passed as his muscles. She wasn't sure if ghosts had them.

"Wait, hang on. What did you mean? Are you… saying that you go to school too?"

Phantom turned back to face her again, frown still on his face. Or again, maybe. She couldn't be sure.

"I- Yeah." He unfolded his arms, then started rubbing the back of his neck. The gesture was familiar to Valerie, but she couldn't immediately place it. "I kind of… wanted to talk about that, too."

"How so?" She was still studying him, trying to place where she had seen that neck rubbing before.

But before she figured it out, Phantom dropped his hand again. "I'll… show you. It's easiest."

"Show me what, Phantom?" She was getting worried now. What did he want to tell her about that would be easier to show her? How could that be anything but bad?

A spark burst from Phantom's waist, suddenly, and Valerie almost fell off her board in surprise. She was about to reengage her helmet again, but then she saw that it wasn't an attack.

Instead, the spark had extended, forming a bright circle of light around Phantom. Then the ring wavered and split in two. The two halos swept across his body, revealing… surprisingly normal clothes. Bare arms.

No ghostly glow.

Phantom had closed his eyes, but when the upper ring passed his hair and dyed it black instead of white… Valerie didn't need to see his eyes to know their color.

Almost cruelly, her mind took this moment to remind her that when Phantom had first told the media his name… he had included a first name.

He had dubbed himself _Danny_ Phantom.

And now Danny Fenton opened his eyes, looking at her with a mixture of doubt and hope. And Valerie… didn't know what to think. Felt overcome by all these revelations.

The boy, her _friend_, smiled sheepishly at her. Raised his hand to rub the back of his neck again.

"Danny," she whispered, finally. She wasn't sure what emotions her voice carried, because she didn't even know which ones she _felt_.

"Yeah..." he said, nodding slightly. "It's me. Has been, from the start." His smile had dropped, but he continued to rub the back of his neck.

"But why? Wait. _How?_" She tried not to bite out her answers, but her distress made her snappier than usual. Danny must've realized, because he didn't even flinch. Either that, or he had gotten used to her being angry at him.

"I… It's a long story." He finally dropped the hand, offering her a shrug. "But long story short, I'm kind of… only half ghost? Phantom is what I actually look like as a ghost. But my core stays in human form, so ghost hunting equipment can pick it up, if it's strong enough."

"You're… _half_ ghost?" Her tone was incredulous, but it couldn't possibly convey the extend to which she felt it. Surely… he can't be only half of a ghost? Maybe he was some sort of shapeshifting ghost. Those existed, she knew.

"Yeah. Didn't realize it at the start, but I kind of… defy the rules of regular ghosts." He huffed out a breath. "Not that we knew that, of course, so we just thought I died."

Valerie frowned. "Who is this 'we'?"

"Sam, Tucker, and I. We were together when I had my accident." He stayed silent for a moment before he shook his head, like he was shaking off his thoughts. "And everybody else who knows thought I was a full ghost too. Jazz, and… Well, I guess my parents don't really count, since they were told that _I _was a ghost, without the connection to Phantom."

"Wait, your parents didn't know?" Valerie knew that Danny's parents weren't all that good at hunting ghosts, but not to realize that their own son was one… Or, well, half of one, if he was telling the truth.

"Nope," Danny confirmed, smiling a little. "Like I've said before, they couldn't catch a ghost if it was living under their roof."

"Oh my god, _Danny_," Valerie groaned, burying her head in her hands. "How can you joke about this? Why wouldn't you _tell_ them?"

"Jazz says it's a coping mechanism." Danny's grin widened, then fell a little. "As for your second question… Well, would _you_ tell your ghost hunting parents that you died and became a ghost?"

"No, I guess not." Valerie's shoulders sagged as she lifted her head again. "So I'm guessing that that canine wrecking ball really wasn't your dog? Because I highly doubt you could've kept that thing away from your parents."

"Cujo? Nah, he's his own dog." Danny grimaced a little. "He kept coming to me though. I think because I was the only other ghost around. Wanted me to help find his toy."

"If he wanted his toy, why did he keep coming back to Axion Labs?" Valerie crossed her arms, sending a mild glare at Danny.

"Because that's where his toy _was_, Val." Danny rolled his eyes. "He used to be a guard dog, I think. He was trained and he was wearing an Axion Labs tag on his collar. After I got him his toy during the second break-in he left, and now he usually stays in the Zone."

"Oh." Valerie uncrossed her arms again, studying the boy in front of her. He _said_ that he wasn't fully a ghost, but she wasn't sure if she believed that. On the other hand, if his _parents_ believed it, maybe there _was_ some truth to it. What did he say again? That he _defied_ the rules of regular ghosts?

"How did you convince your parents that you weren't a full ghost?"

"Huh?" Danny asked, startled. Apparently he hadn't expected her to go back to that topic. "Oh, uh. Regular ghosts don't need to breathe or eat, and they don't have a heartbeat." He shrugged. "There's more, of course, but those are the basic things."

That… made sense. She had seen some ghosts breathe before, but they usually stopped if they dropped their human disguise. _Phantom_, however, she had definitely seen breathing. At the time she had thought that it was part of his plan to fool the town on how 'human' he was… But he really _was_ human. Or partly, at least.

"Can I…" she trailed off before she finished her sentence, uncertainly holding out a hand. Danny understood anyway, since he held out of own hand, angling it so she could easily grasp his wrist.

She called her armored gauntlets back, gently holding Danny's wrist in one hand and putting down the bare fingers of the other. The heartbeat that greeted her was slow, slower than normal for a human… But it was strong. Steady. Undeniable, despite the cold of Danny's flesh.

Valerie didn't know what to say. What to think. What to _do_. It was like it was Danny's sole goal in life to constantly throw everything in her life upside-down.

But… it had always ended up better for his involvement. Sure, being poor _sucked_, but she never would've made friends with Danny otherwise. Would never have started hunting ghosts.

She let go of his hand again, and patted the spot next to her on the hoverboard. Danny took the silent cue, and sat down next to her.

"So. Now what?"

Valerie huffed out a laugh. "You've asked that already. And my answer stays the same." She offered him a shaky smile, but one she poured as much of her heart into as she could. "We're friends, Danny. Anything I could've blamed you for, you've already made up for."

"Oh. That's… good." Danny sat back, leaning on his hands. "I'm glad to hear so. I was… worried."

"That I would be upset?" She couldn't blame him. She had the unfortunate habit of getting angry before thinking things through. "I mean, I _am_, a little. But you did nothing wrong. I would've done the same, I think."

Then she shoved him a little, laughing. "Actually, no I wouldn't. Because I definitely wouldn't have risked my own skin dating a ghost hunter who hated my ghost half."

Danny looked a little startled at the shove, but then barked out a laugh. "Yeah, Sam and Tucker were _pissed_ about that."

"I can imagine that. They're pretty protective of you, and apparently for good reasons." That boy would've gotten himself killed without the two of them, she was sure. Although he had apparently gotten himself halfway there _despite_ their presence. "Guess you'll just need another bodyguard."

"Yeah," Danny agreed, nodding. Then he stopped, suddenly. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"Well, Sam and Tucker are no doubt great at protecting you against _human_ threats, but you need a hand with _ghostly_ threats as well." She smirked at him. "So I'm offering my services."

"Yeesh, don't let them hear you. Sam and Tucker have helped me with countless 'ghostly threats' before, you know." His tone was reprimanding, but the smile on his face conveyed the underlying joke. "But like I said earlier, I wouldn't mind a hand with patrolling and ghost fighting."

Valerie nodded and held out her hand. "That's a deal then, Mr. Phantom."

Danny rolled his eyes but took her hand anyway. "Definitely. Want to go for a quick patrol right now?"

"You got it." Valerie grinned as her helmet formed again, before pushing herself upright. The soles of her shoes locked back on the hoverboard with clearly audible _click_s.

Danny had jumped off of the board, light washing over him as he dropped down. When Valerie had blinked the dots from her vision again, Phantom floated next to her.

"Ready?" he asked, his normal smirk on his face.

She didn't answer him, instead shooting off into the sky. Danny yelped but was quick to follow her.

* * *

A speaker crackled to life, and the conversation Danny had been having with Sam and Tucker instantly quieted. Principal Ishiyama's voice suddenly filled the hallways.

"Students, there is a mandatory school assembly during the first class. Attendance _will_ be checked." The silence lingered for a moment before she repeated the message, and then the crowd started talking again.

"Wonder what _that_ was about," Tucker mumbled, eyes locked on his PDA.

Danny finished packing his backpack and groaned. "I've got the uncanny feeling that it's about me, somehow."

"That would be _just_ your luck, yeah." Sam patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. "And you've definitely jinxed it now."

Danny groaned again, but allowed himself to be distracted by Valerie, who was making her way over to them."Hey Val," he greeted her when she was close enough.

"Hey Danny, Sam, Tucker." She offered them a smile. "You guys know what that assembly is about?"

"Knowing Danny's luck, it'll be about him." Tucker _still_ hadn't looked up from his PDA. Honestly, what was he even _doing_ on that thing?

"Geez, no wonder you've formed such a protective squad." Valerie grinned, crossing her arms. "I guess even powerful ghosts can be felled by bad luck, huh?"

"Story of my life," Danny agreed, also grinning. "Also, speaking of my protective squad… Sam?"

"Right." Sam straightened herself out, then turned to Valerie with a smirk on her face. "Valerie Gray, Red Huntress of Amity Park… Welcome to Team Phantom."

"Yeah, welcome to the shitshow." Tucker looked up from his PDA to shoot her a shit-eating grin. Danny considered stealing his PDA as punishment but decided against it. Knowing Tucker, he probably had another on him somewhere.

"You- _Team Phantom_?" Valerie looked as baffled as she sounded, which was very baffled.

"Well, Jazz suggested the Ghost Getters so…" Danny shrugged. "Team Phantom worked better for us."

"And-" Sam leaned on Danny's shoulder, smirk widening. "-the whole point is to keep this guy from getting himself killed."

"I see." Now Valerie smiled. "I- Thanks. I'll do my best."

Before they could say more, however, the bell rung.

Danny grimaced. "Guess we better head to the assembly."

"Yeah." Tucker stuffed his PDA in one of his many pockets. "Anyone wanna take bets on the topic?"

They started heading towards the gym, the only location big enough for the entire school.

Valerie scoffed. "No thanks. Knowing what I do now, I definitely agree that it'll be about Danny somehow."

"This is gonna be the death of me," he groaned. The others didn't respond beyond rolling their eyes as they made their way through the crowds.

Soon they had found themselves spots, sitting in a straight row. Sam on one end, followed by Tucker, then Danny, and finally Valerie on the other end.

Principal Ishiyama walked up to the stand, tapping the microphone to silence the gathered crowd. As soon as they hushed, she spoke.

"Students. We, the faculty of Casper High, have an important announcement."

The silence lingered as Ishiyama took a fortifying breath. She looked down, at either her hands or a note, before finally eyeing the crowd of teenagers.

"As we all know, a body was found near Amity Park. The police have recently finished their investigations, although they have not released any information to the public. Despite the lack of proper facts, or perhaps _because_ of it, rumors have started spreading regarding this case. We have no clearance to speak about this case in particular. However..."

She paused again, hesitating in a way that was rather uncharacteristic for her.

"However, we _can_ confirm that a ghost is among our students. We have known for almost a month. The decision to allow them to stay at Casper High was not made lightly, and we have determined that they are no threat to their fellow students. We will _not_ tell you who this student is, and we ask you that if you _do_ know, to treat them with the same respect as any other."

She folded her hands, staring out across the crowd.

"That was all. Thank you for your time, students. Please return to your normal classrooms, so classes may pick up as soon as possible."

And Principal Ishiyama disappeared off-stage again, as the teenagers started making their way out of the gym as well.

Tucker elbowed Danny with a grin. "You definitely jinxed it."

"Good thing that I didn't take that bet." Valerie shouldered her backpack and stood up. "You were definitely right about his luck."

"Thanks," Danny deadpanned, also getting up. "I swear, there's gotta be some sort of ghostly deity of fate that _hates_ me."

"Why a _ghostly_ deity?" Valerie asked as she led the group towards their first class.

"Because we already met the one that controls time." Tucker wiggled an eyebrow at her as he joined her at the front of their group. "Danny may or may not have picked a fight with him."

"To be fair," Danny leaned in a little closer so they wouldn't be overheard in the busy hallways, "Clockwork started it. And it all worked out in the end."

Valerie groaned, pressing her hand to her face in distress. "You're _joking_. Danny, _how_?"

"Long story," he explained with a shrug. "I can tell you later, if you really want to know."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Because you've still got a _lot_ of explaining to do, Fenton." But she offered him a warm smile anyway, and he grinned back.

"Of course Val. Of course."

* * *

The title is from "Firewall" by Les Friction. I am... so tired. This isn't relevant to the story at all but I wanted to mention it anyway. Also I have no clue how American high schools work - all my knowledge comes from ancient cartoons. But I figured that if they had assemblies in the DP canon I could get away with having one in Disinterred too.

This chapter is the longest in all of Disinterred! In part, this is because it was actually two chapters during the planning stage. But what was once the chapter after this was too short, but merging it into this one would've made it far too long, so I just took part of it and axed the other bit. It wasn't very relevant either - although looking back now, it could've been fun. Ah well, a sacrifice for pacing.  
Additionally, with this chapter we round off this 'arc' of Disinterred. I hadn't planned for arcs while writing it, but looking back now I can clearly see three of them. The first was obviously the bit from Unearthed - chapters 1 to 6. Then chapters 7 to 12 are this arc. And then chapter 13 to 15 are the final arc - although the last chapter obviously rounds off the entire fic. When the next chapter goes up, I'll also add the last 2 characters to the tab - so keep an eye out for that!

Next week: Chapter 13 - For The Ones Who Need A Hand


	13. For The Ones Who Need A Hand

**Chapter 13: ****For The Ones Who Need A Hand**

In her short life, Dani had seen a lot of crummy alleys. All things considered, the one she was currently in certainly wasn't one of the worst. The boxes she was hiding behind covered her well, and her glow was dim enough that no bystanders would spot her.

Once she was sure that the coast was clear, she pushed herself out of her hiding place with a groan. She was feeling more and more tired lately, and had noticed herself getting weaker as well.

It was for this reason that she had cut off her explorations of the world. She was trying to get back to Amity Park, to Danny, but she hadn't quite gotten there yet. The dirty alley she was in only confirmed this.

Elmerton wasn't Amity Park, but it was close. She only had to get a little further. And then Danny would help her, she was sure of it. He wasn't like Vlad, he refused to drop her just because she wasn't useful to him.

She shifted, getting ready to launch herself into the air. A movement caught her eye, and she stilled immediately. She started turning around, trying figure out what she had seen, and if it was a threat.

A pair of glowing green eyes blinked back, wide open.

Dani huffed out a laugh, realizing that she had been spooked by her own reflection. "Whoa, that is one scary ghost." She shook her head, amused at her own foolishness. But she was quick to focus again.

She pushed herself off of the ground. "I got to get to Danny fast!" Angled herself in the direction of Amity, pushing her speed to its absolute limit.

Her flight was slow and faltering, however, and she was soon drooping in exhaustion. "Or slow. Slow is good."

Another wave of fatigue hit her, and she dropped back onto the floor. Rather than the sound of her boots softly hitting the concrete, Dani was greeted by a hissing sound.

A sound which was all too familiar to her. One she dreaded, that she had nightmares about.

One she heard more and more often, these days.

She grimaced, looking down to see her feet dissolving into ectoplasm. "I just hope that Danny can help me…"

Dani tried to keep her hopes up, really, she did! But her 'cousin' was just a 16 year old half-ghost. She wasn't sure _what_, exactly, she was hoping he could do for her that Vlad hadn't been able to do. Because, sure, her 'creator' hadn't tried to save her. But if he _had_ been able to stabilize clones, he would've done so already. She would never have met Danny if Vlad had been able to stabilize her, or any of her brothers.

Scrunching her nose in concentration, she managed to re-stabilize her body. But she knew it wouldn't last. And as much as she wanted to make haste, it would be better to take it slow.

Walking to Amity Park might take a lot longer, but it would be safer. Especially since she could shift back into her human form, which was a lot less inclined to melt into ectoplasm.

She allowed her transformation to wash over her, turning her back into a perfectly normal human being. A pretty scruffy human being, but not very noteworthy otherwise.

Sticking her hands into the pockets of her hoodie, Dani sunk deeper into the loose fabric. As she left the alley, she softly muttered to herself. "At least Vlad is all the way in Colorado. There's no way he knows I'm here."

* * *

A vaguely familiar buzzing noise sounded in the back of Valerie's head. She shoved her schoolwork away by reflex before stopping to consider the situation. She recognized the jingle, even if she hadn't heard it in a long time.

Last time must've been before her suit got upgraded. Because she definitely didn't remember hearing it like _this_, whirring in the back of her mind.

Vlad Masters, her employer, was calling for her. He rarely did so, but _when_ he asked her, he usually offered further compensation. Hunt down some random ghost, get better weapons, or sometimes even straight-up money. There was no doubt in her mind about going to his mansion to hear him out.

She swept into the mansion soon enough. Hovered in front of the desk behind which Vlad Masters sat. He quirked an eyebrow at her sudden appearance.

"Well, that certainly was fast." His eyes trailed over her body, and she felt herself stiffen slightly under his scrutiny. "My, don't you look fancy."

"Got a few upgrades," she acknowledged, allowing herself to relax again. It was okay, he wasn't being weird. He was just curious about her new suit. Which, she had to admit, no one had ever seen up-close before.

Well, except for Danny. But that didn't count.

"Well, perhaps you'd be willing to upgrade your life as well." Vlad leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk and weaving his fingers together. "Wouldn't you like to finally move out of that rundown apartment?"

Well, _that_ was certainly an offer she wouldn't refuse. She allowed her hoverboard to retract back into the soles of her boots. "Absolutely. What do you need, Mr. Masters?"

"A little bounty hunting," he purred, obliging.

Of course. He _always_ asked her to hunt down ghosts. She resisted the urge to sigh at his obvious answer, instead imploring for more information. "Of course. What, or who, is the target?"

And now he smiled at her. She stamped down her instinctual shivers, her body telling her not to trust the man in front of her. Her alarm bells were ringing, but… Surely whatever he was going to ask for would be worth the reward?

"Phantom," Masters finally answered. And, _oh_. Of course he didn't know that she had made up with Phantom, with _Danny_. She couldn't hunt him, but… maybe she should play along a little further. Find out more about why Masters suddenly wanted her to hunt down Danny, even though he had resided in the town for so long already.

"_The_ Phantom?" she queried, cocking an eyebrow. Then she decided to play it up a little, falling back into her former behavior. "That guy has been an intangible pain in my ass for a long time."

Masters untangled his hands again, raising them up in a motion clearly meant to pacify her. "Oh no, sorry my dear. Not _the_ Phantom." He turned the monitor on his desk around.

On the screen was a photo of a ghost which clearly _resembled_ Danny in his ghost form, but that _wasn't_ him. The ghost depicted was female, and appeared slightly younger than him too. Her jumpsuit was also somewhat different, but it carried the same colors and even the logo.

Her employer had waited for her to finish studying the picture before he continued speaking. "I want you to capture _this_ Phantom."

Valerie was sure that there was a story behind this picture, and one that Danny could tell her. But she didn't know it, not yet, and thus didn't know if this ghost was of any importance to Danny. It was better to accept Vlad's mission, anyway. If she didn't, he would likely send different ghost hunters after the ghost girl. This way she could stall him until she knew more about the situation.

She scoffed, incredulously. "You're kidding, there's a girl ghost named Phantom as well? These ghosts need to come up with more original names."

"Yes, well, _this_ Phantom is an incredibly dangerous ghost out to destroy me." Vlad must think himself a great actor, but Valerie knew better now. She could tell that his fear was faked. She didn't know _why_ he would send her after this ghost, this doppelganger, but she was sure that it wasn't good.

On the other hand, she was aided by his clear underestimation of her. _He_ was clearly falling for _her_ act.

"There's no way I'm letting that ghost girl get you, Mr. Masters." She shot him a reassuring smile. "She is as good as caught."

"I knew I could count on you, Valerie," the man purred, and Valerie barely stifled her grimace. _How_ had she never noticed how slimy he was?

Regardless, she summoned her board and flew off. First and foremost, she had to talk to Danny.

* * *

Tracking down Danny was a lot easier these days. She just had to search for Phantom's ecto-signature and raise the sensitivity of her tracker way up. That way it could pick him up even in human form.

Not that it was necessary, because he was in ghost form. Apparently in the middle of a fight as well, since the tracker picked up a second ghost near him. Valerie turned to his direction and zipped off, hoping to catch him before he left.

She saw him suck up the ghost (an animalistic ghost of some sort) and called to him before he got a chance to leave. "Phantom!"

He stopped, whirling around to greet her. "Hey Val, what's up?"

She came to a halt right in front of him, glancing down to make sure they were high enough that no one could overhear their conversation. Danny didn't greet her by name if they weren't, but better safe than sorry. She was sure that this wouldn't be a light conversation.

"Hey Danny, I have to talk to you. Do you… know who my benefactor is?"

He frowned at her, but nodded. "Yeah, it's Vlad, right? Well, not for your current suit, Technus made that. Why?"

She wasn't sure _how_ he knew, but, well. It wasn't as surprising as it should've been.

"Well, he called me in today. Sometimes he asks me to hunt down specific ghosts in return for a reward, you know? But something was weird about this one. He was lying about why he wanted me to catch her, I know it."

Danny nodded again. "Yeah, Vlad does that a lot. Can you describe the ghost to me? Maybe I know why he's after her."

"Yeah, that's why I was suspicious of him in the first place." She kept her tone dry as she spoke. "He asked me to hunt down _Phantom_, but not _you_ Phantom. He showed me a picture, some female ghost who looks _just_ like you?"

"Dani," Danny muttered, frown deepening. "Shit. That's not good."

Valerie quirked a brow at the unexpected swear. Danny didn't make a habit out of swearing, and usually only did it in serious situations. "Who is she, then?"

He wavered for a moment, hesitating. Then he sighed. "She's… my clone." He clearly sensed her incredulous expression even without seeing it, because he continued his explanation. "Vlad is kind of obsessed with me, with having me as his half-ghost son. I turned him down time after time and eventually he snapped and decided to try and clone me instead." Danny shrugged. "They were all unstable though. Danielle was the only one who survived, and she left to explore the world."

"That's..." Valerie didn't finish her sentence. She couldn't think of a word that was strong enough to describe how she felt. She settled on, "messed up. That's really fucking messed up, Danny."

"Yeah, no kidding," he huffed, before combing his fingers through his hair. "_Shit_. Who knows what Vlad is gonna do to her if he catches her."

"He's not gonna catch her," she reassured, making sure to sound as soothing as she could. "Because he send _me_ to get her. I'll track her down and bring her to you, no problem."

Danny blinked at her, stunned. "You'll do that for me?" And then he snapped back into focus. "Right, okay. I'll… go talk to my parents about this. If she came to Amity, she's probably destabilizing." His voice gradually quietened as he spoke, and Valerie was pretty sure he wasn't talking to her anymore.

She turned around to fly off, before Danny suddenly spoke again.

"And Valerie?"

When she looked over her shoulder, he shot her a wide grin. "Thanks," he said, before disappearing. She huffed out a fond laugh in return.

"Yeah, no problem. Dork."

* * *

Danny phased through the door of FentonWorks. He glanced around the living room, but didn't see his parents. They were probably in the lab, then. Should've known, really.

"Mom, dad?" he called out, just to be sure. "I kind of have something I need to talk about!"

He didn't have to wait long for the thunderous footsteps of his parents as they came out of the lab. His dad was, of course, storming ahead, but his mom wasn't far behind.

"What's wrong sweetie? What did you want to talk about?"

Danny grimaced, considering his words. He transformed back to his human form to stall, but it didn't give him nearly as much time as he needed.

"It's… Vlad." _More explanation, Fenton_, he chided himself. "He's… kind of my arch enemy? And for a good reason."

His dad frowned and looked like he was going to defend his old friend, but he faltered when he saw Danny's expression.

"Danny, I know that the two of you don't get along, but… there's something more, isn't there?" Ah, his mom was so perceptive. Well, sometimes.

He nodded. "Yeah, he's… like me. He became half-ghost during the accident with the Proto-Portal. It's a long story and it's… not really important right now."

"Oh," his dad said, looking rather downtrodden. "Then… why did you bring it up?"

"Well..." Danny hissed between his teeth, increasingly uncomfortable with describing Vlad's misdeeds. "Vlad kind of… has been obsessed with me since he found out that I'm half-ghost. Wants me as his son slash evil apprentice and everything. But I turned him down every time, because… Well, because of a lot of reasons, really."

He flapped his hands. "Eventually he kind of… snapped, I guess? And decided that if he couldn't get _me_ to join him, he would just make his own half-ghost son." Danny licked his lips, uncertain. "So he… Well, he cloned me. Or tried to, at least."

"Oh, Vladdie," Jack whispered, hurt clearly audible in his voice. "I can't- Why would he-"

"Sorry." And he was, truly. He couldn't imagine discovering that someone who you considered to be your best friend was… Well, was Vlad, pretty much.

"Don't be," his mom comforted him, also laying a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I'm glad you told us, Danny. But…" she trailed off, not finishing her sentence. Danny could guess what she was going to say, though.

"The clones were unstable." He grimaced at the memory of seeing them melt. "They… Whenever they used too much energy, they would melt into ectoplasm. Vlad kept forcing them to overextend themselves. Only one… Only one survived, she realized that Vlad was using them."

"'_She'_?" Maddie asked, before waving her own question off. "Never mind, not relevant right now. What happened to her?"

"Well, she came along with me back to Amity Park. But with Vlad, she had never gotten a chance to explore. To be… free." He shrugged, a sheepish expression on his face. "She wanted to explore the world. So she left. Dramatically flew off into the sunset, and stuff."

His mom sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "I guess I can't blame either of you for it. But if you're telling us now… I'm guessing that she's back?"

"Uh, yeah," Danny admitted. "The, uh, Red Huntress is looking for her now. Apparently Vlad tried to hire her to hunt down Danielle, but he didn't know that we have a truce now."

"Well," Jack tried, his voice wavering a little but regaining some of its usual bluster. "I wouldn't mind another kid, especially one as wonderful as you, Danny-boy."

Danny blushed, shoulders creeping up a little in embarrassment. "I… I don't know if that's what she's looking for, dad. I think she might be… I think she might be destabilizing again."

"And she's hoping that you know how to help her?" his mom queried, but she was already nodding to herself. "_Do_ you know a way to help her?"

"No." Danny combed his fingers through his hair with a sigh. "I've never had such a thing happen. And if Vlad couldn't figure it out… I'm not sure what else I could try."

His dad snapped his fingers, a grin forming on his face. "Maddie, do you remember what me newest project was?"

"Yes..." His mom frowned as she turned to look at Jack. "You were working on a chemical which weakens ghosts, right?"

"Exactly!" Jack nodded, his smile growing wider. "But I just couldn't get it to work. Every time I tried it on a weak ghost, it would _get stronger_."

Hope bloomed in Danny's chest, and he looked at his dad. "Do you think…?"

The man nodded again in response. "Probably! I'll go get some Ecto-Dejecto right now, of the strongest batch I have."

"Thanks Dad!" Danny grinned as his dad ruffled his hair. His mom remained seated, a thoughtful but warm smile on her face. Things were looking up for once.

* * *

Danny heard the hum of Valerie's hoverboard approaching the house and made his way to the backyard. He had hoped that she would've taken the less noticeable route and just _walked_ with Dani, but apparently not.

The hoverboard swept into the backyard, Valerie in full armor. Standing behind her, with her arms wrapped around Valerie's waist, was Danielle. Her clothes were dirty and ragged, and she looked dead tired. The bags under her eyes were worse than _his_ usually were, and that was saying something.

He extended a hand to help her off of the hoverboard, shooting her an encouraging smile. "Hey Dani, long time no see."

"Yeah," Dani agreed, voice tinged with exhaustion. She accepted his help and slumped off of the board, almost falling into his arms.

Danny wrapped an arm around her, supporting her weight against his own body. He nodded at Valerie. "Thanks for bringing her Val. I'll tell you the full story behind Vlad later, okay?"

"You better," she declared with a nod of her head. And then she was gone again.

Danny quirked a brow at the dramatic display, but then shook his head to clear the thoughts. Valerie might think _him_ overdramatic, but she had quite a penchant for it as well.

"Come on Dani, let's get you inside. Are you… destabilizing again?"

"Yeah," she murmured, voice soft and almost impossible to hear. She was sagging against him, barely capable of carrying her own weight.

Danny was glad that she had had the forethought to shift back to human form. He was sure that she would've been melting into ectoplasm already if she had been a ghost.

He wrestled himself through the backdoor with Danielle still hanging off of him, and his mom spotted the two of them. She nodded towards the dinner table, a silent command to settle Dani there. Then she raced off down the stairs, going to retrieve his dad from the lab.

Danny had barely gotten Dani situated when his dad came up. She stiffened slightly at the sight of the burly man. Or maybe at the sight of the glowing green vial in his hand.

Really, he couldn't blame her for either of those reasons. He felt the same way about his dad and potentially dangerous inventions, even if the man _had_ gotten a lot better about it.

He moved to step in, but his mom had appeared from the lab as well and laid a hand on Jack's arm. Then she shot Dani a warm smile, full of motherly warmth.

"Hey sweetie, you're Danielle, right?"

Dani nodded a little sluggishly. She was still eyeing Jack with clearly visible wariness.

"Good." Maddie took the vial from Jack's hand, holding it out in her open palm to show it to Danielle. "Danny told us you were destabilizing. This should help, but we will have to inject it. Is that okay?"

Dani blinked for a moment before turning to look at Danny. He nodded at her, encouraging. "It's okay, they know. About me, about you, and… about Vlad."

"Oh," she said, a little stunned. Then she shrugged at Maddie. "I guess… that it's okay." Then, more quietly, she mumbled, "Don't have anything to lose anyway."

His mom made a pained expression but covered it up quickly. Then she produced a syringe from one of the pockets of her belt, making sure to show it to Dani. Maddie uncorked the vial and sucked its contents into the needle. Then she eyed Dani speculatively.

"It might be better if you're in your… _ghost_… form." She held up the filled needle, the Ecto-Dejecto in it still glowing a vibrant green. "We don't know how it might react to your human physiology."

The clone scrunched her eyes closed. Familiar rings formed and passed over her, but they were faint. It clearly took great effort on Dani's part to make it happen.

"Danny, can you hold her arm for me?" his mom asked, and he nodded.

He reached out to Dani, and she offered him an arm. He quickly removed one of the gloves, watching with dread as it melted into ectoplasm the moment it lost contact with her body. Then he carefully rolled up the sleeve of her jumpsuit.

Maddie came closer, crouching next to the chair Dani was seated on. Danny stabilized Dani's arm. Jack hovered nearby, clearly wanting to help but knowing that there was nothing he could do.

The needle slipped into Dani's arm with no resistance. Maddie pressed down on the plunger, and the Ecto-Dejecto flowed into the system of Danny's clone. Its spread could easily be tracked, veins shortly lighting up green as the chemical made its way through Dani's system.

And then the needle was removed again, and Danny rolled down the sleeve again.

Dani blinked, then blinked again. Then she rubbed her eyes, blinking rapidly.

It was like she was re-energizing before their eyes. The bags under her eyes seemed lighter, her skin seemed healthier. Her aura brightened significantly, although it still fluctuated a little.

"It… worked?" she whispered, looking at her hands as she clenched and unclenched them.

"Of course it did!" Jack boomed, grinning widely. "Only the best for my kids!"

Dani whipped her head around to look at the man, eyes blown wide. "_Your _kids?" Her voice was quiet still, but Danny couldn't tell with what emotion.

His mom laid a hand on the shoulder of the girl ghost. "Of course, honey. It might be a little unconventional, but you're _our_ flesh and blood." Then she hesitated a little, adding, "If you want, of course."

"Really?" Dani gasped, looking between all three of them. "Even though I'm… just a clone?"

"You're not 'just a clone' Dani," Danny chided, frowning. "You're _family_. To all of us. And you're your own person, no matter what Vlad has told you before."

Both of his parents nodded. Then Maddie spoke up again. "That man is sick, Danielle. He has done bad things. But… none of that is your fault."

"And I've always wanted another daughter," Jack added with an over-the-top wink.

Dani giggled at him, then nodded. "I would… really like that. Thanks."

"Of course kiddo! Now, who wants some fudge?" Jack turned to walk to the fridge.

Danny grimaced, then leaned in a little closer to Dani. "Fair warning, there is about a 50% chance that food in this house spontaneously comes to life."

Dani quirked a brow at him. "For re-"

She never got to finish her sentence, as loud growls suddenly came from the open fridge. Green hot dogs with teeth burst out of the appliance.

"Oh," she ended up saying, stunned. "I guess I see your point."

* * *

Title is from "Comes And Goes" by Greg Laswell. I have also apparently acquired the incredible skill to lose touch with time and then get startled when it's Wednesday. I honestly might end up shifting update days to Saturdays because of it.  
As for the chapter itself, the final 2 (major) characters reveal themselves! Fun times. I hope you'll all enjoy the final mini-arc, as Disinterred finishes off season 3. This chapter contained some bits taken straight from the episode D-Stabilized - but I left out some parts because, idk. Felt weird. Plus some alterations because AU and all that.

On a FFnet-exclusive note, I wanted to mention that, yeah, my activity here is relatively low. Personally I prefer AO3 - both as a writer and a reader. I still post all my fics here, and usually simultaneously with other websites (since it's easier to crosspost if I've got everything open anyway) but you might've noticed I don't leave replies very often. I read through all comments, though! I just... don't respond a lot. PMing answers feels a lot more, idk, direct? Too personal? But long replies, or sometimes others, I do reply to. Just, not as quickly as I might on AO3.

Next week: Chapter 14 - I'm Done Being Your Slave


	14. I'm Done Being Your Slave

**Chapter 14: I'm Done Being Your Slave**

Valerie hesitated briefly on the doorstep of FentonWorks. The day before had been her first time visiting the house, but she didn't think it really counted. She had only been there to drop off Danielle, and she hadn't even used the front door! Hell, she hadn't even entered the damn house!

Finally she pressed the doorbell. A veritable explosion of noise came from the house, briefly startling Valerie. What was going on in there?

But before she could really think of anything the door swung open. The thundering footsteps she heard before stopped somewhere further in the house.

In the opening of the door stood a teenage boy. His hair was black as the night and his eyes icy blue. Just who she was looking for.

"Hey Val," Danny greeted, stepping aside to let her in. "I hope dad didn't startle you – he's waiting for Jazz to arrive."

"She's coming over for the Summer vacation then?" she asked as she entered. Jack was lingering in the doorway to the living room, deflating a little when he saw her. Valerie tried not to feel offended.

Then the man seemed to realize that he didn't know her, as he frowned at her.

Danny must've noticed too, because he promptly introduced her. "Dad, this is Valerie Gray. She's a friend from school."

Valerie smiled at the older man, offering him her hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Fenton."

He opened his mouth to answer, but the sound of an explosion cut him off. He glanced in the direction of the kitchen for a moment before turning back to face them. "Right, nice to meet you too. Why…" He seemed to be struggling for a polite way to ask her _why_ she was here. Or, more likely, why she was here _now_.

"I asked her to come over, dad." Danny took mercy on his dad, and on her, too. She wasn't exactly scrambling to explain that she already knew about Dani's presence at FentonWorks. That, in turn, likely would force her to reveal her status as the Red Huntress. And besides the obvious fact that it was a _secret_ identity for a reason, it was no secret that Red hated Phantom. She really didn't want Jack Fenton to unleash his protective nature on her for threatening his son. Never mind that _he_ had done the same. She highly doubted that he would listen to such reasoning.

Danny had grabbed her arm and started guiding her towards the stairs. "We'll be in my room. Call if you need anything," he yelled over his shoulder at his dad.

"Right," Jack said, blinking somewhat surprised.

And then before she knew it she was standing in Danny's bedroom. She considered looking around for a moment, but restrained herself to a quick glance. The room was almost entirely blue, with space-themed decoration scattered around the room. Quite fitting for a boy who had expressed an interest in space and becoming an astronaut.

But for now she needed to focus on the reason _why_ she was here in the first place. After all, yesterday Danny had promised to tell her everything. And this morning he had texted her, telling her to come over so they could talk in private. Without the risk of anybody overhearing.

"Sooo," she finally said when she felt like the silence had lingered too long, making sure to draw out to 'o'. "You were going to tell me the _whole_ story?"

"Right." Danny glanced around the room before offering her a chair. She sat down while he sank down onto his bed. "It's… a long story. And complicated."

"I've got time." She shot him a reassuring smile, and Danny visibly relaxed. His posture eased up, muscles unclenching. Valerie had a pretty good idea of how he felt. She had gone through her fair share of awkward conversations with her dad since she had become a ghost hunter.

"Okay, so… This whole mess started some 20 years ago, when my parents were in college." Danny leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "They were part of this ghost hunting club. The two of them… and Vlad."

Valerie nodded to show that she was following. Danny sighed and continued speaking.

"All three of them were close, I guess. I don't know much. None of them like to talk about it. Anyway, the three of them somehow figured out that there was an alternate dimension where ghosts resided. They built a machine trying to get there. A Portal. A small one, especially compared to the one in the basement, but a Portal nonetheless."

"And it didn't work?" Valerie asked, now also leaning forward, intrigued. She figured that if that Portal had worked, ghosts would've been known way sooner. At the very least Danny's parents would've been far more prepared for them – and Vlad Masters likely wouldn't have hidden his ghost hunting past.

"Nope. It exploded in Vlad's face. He got a horrible case of Ecto-Acne, and…" Danny paused for a moment before sighing again. "And he became the first known half-ghost. 20 years before I got my powers."

"Oh," she said. That was… unexpected. But then Danny had never told her how _he_ had become half-ghost, either. Had he gone through something similar? "But wait. If _you_ left behind a body when you became half-ghost, why didn't Vlad?"

"I don't know," Danny admitted with a shrug. "I guess it might've been because he didn't instantly become half-ghost. He suffered through that whole slow Ecto-Acne thing."

"And I'm guessing that you become a half-ghost in a similar way?" she mused.

"Uh, yeah." He made a face. "I never told you? When my parents first tried to turn on the Fenton Portal downstairs it didn't work. Sam and Tucker talked me into checking it out, I tripped over a cable, and accidentally turned it on."

Yeesh, that didn't sound pleasant. She hissed through her teeth. "While you were still inside it huh?"

"Yup." He shrugged. "It was only like a bazillion volts of electricity and ectoplasm, no biggie. It only hurt for a few infinitely long seconds."

Then he shifted slightly before starting to talk again, clearly eager to change the topic. "Anyway, to get back to what we were talking about. Vlad became the first halfa. Then he cut all contact with my parents, and now blames _them_, saying that _they_ cut him out of their lives. On top of that he still blames my dad for the accident and wants to kill him. _And_ he wants my mom as his wife because he has been in love with her since college."

"Jesus." That was… a lot. And here she was, thinking that _she_ was overwhelmed by all of this ghost business. She had nothing on Danny! No wonder that he always seemed so tired and exhausted in school. "And he wants you as his son, right? Because you're half-ghost too."

Danny nodded. "He's been badgering me since he found out, which was a few months after the Accident. I told him off, since he kept asking me to renounce my dad and all that. I mean, he straight-up told me he wanted to _kill_ my dad, and then asked me to join him!" He hissed something under his breath, which sounded somewhat like _"fruitloop"_. Then he spoke again in his previous volume. "I guess when that failed he went to acquire some other pawns instead."

A pawn like… "Like me?"

Danny said nothing, he just nodded again. The grimace on his face told her enough, though.

"Of course." She pressed her hands against her face and groaned. "I can't believe I fell for that! _Why_ didn't I question someone who send a fucking _14-year old_ ghost hunting equipment! Of course there was something shady going on!" The best ghost hunter he knew, her ass! The most naive, maybe.

"Valerie, it's okay. I don't blame you." His voice was soft, soothing. It reminded her of how badly she _could've_ hurt him. Of what she _wanted_ to do to him.

"That doesn't make it okay, Danny!" she snapped, dragging her hands off of her face again. "He _manipulated_ me. He wanted me to _hunt_ you, knowing that you were… that you _are_ human!"

She was breathing quickly, heavily. She wasn't just upset, she was _angry_. She couldn't believe what that _slime_ of a human being had almost made her do!

"And then he asked me to track down your _clone_! Which _he_ made! Who is, without a doubt, just as human as you!" she exclaimed with a growl.

And then she stopped in her track. She suddenly remembered the girl she had brought to the Fentons just the day before. The girl who looked like she had been on the verge of collapsing, of _dying_.

"Oh god, _Danielle_. I completely forgot about her!" She started to scramble up out of her chair, half-raised before Danny spoke.

"Shh," Danny soothed, raising his hands placatingly. "She's fine. We managed to stabilize her."

"Good." Valerie slumped back into the seat with a sigh. "What's… What's she gonna do next?"

"Well, mom and dad are really excited about the prospect of a new daughter." He grinned, smile widening at her incredulous expression. "So we're going to have to sort all of that out, but… She's gonna stay with us."

"Good, that's… That's good." Valerie let herself relax into the chair a little further. "What… are we going to do about Vlad?"

"I don't know," Danny admitted. "I never really figured out how to deal with him, to be honest. For now Dani is more important."

"But he's going to want to know why I didn't capture her," Valerie pressed. "What am I supposed to tell him?" A little bit of frustration slipped through in her tone. But she had gotten herself into this mess, so she wouldn't let Danny suffer for it. Not this time.

"Well," Danny said with a bit of smirk. "Why don't you tell him–"

* * *

Vlad Masters considered himself a patient man. He had, after all, waited a long 20 years before he ever acted on his plans of vengeance. He had spend the last 2 years carefully manipulating Daniel to become his son and half-ghost apprentice.

And he had waited a full week for Valerie Gray to catch her bounty.

Yet no ghost huntress came. Despite her previous successes, the girl had apparently failed to capture the pathetic should-be clone. It was rather disappointing, especially since she hadn't even bothered to let him know. That's what he got for relying on teenagers, he supposed.

He sneered and hit the call button. He would have to ask her about her failure in person.

Soon enough the teenage huntress appeared, retracting her board and landing on the floor in front of his desk. Her helmet retracted, her face neutral for once.

"Mr. Masters," she greeted, voice rather emotionless.

"Miss Gray," he allowed with a slight nod of his head. "I must inquire on the status of your hunt of the little Phantom. I'm afraid that I don't quite feel safe, knowing that she might still be out there somewhere."

"Right." Valerie grimaced a little, apparently displeased by her lack of success. She turned away, looking at one of his walls instead of him. "Sorry, Mr. Masters. I… I failed."

It was rather unlike her to admit failure. No, Valerie was persistent. She didn't give up. So why had she?

"What happened, my dear girl?" he asked, voice smooth and purring.

"I, uh. I tracked her down, but she got away." She turned to face him again, an apologetic look on her face. Frustration laced her voice, however. "Somehow Phantom, the regular Phantom, found out. He interfered before I could catch the girl ghost and escaped with her." She shrugged. "I don't know what happened after that, I haven't seen either of them since then. I haven't been able to pick them up on the scanner, either."

Her being unable to find them made sense. If they shifted into their human forms Valerie's scanners would fail to pick up on them. Even if their ghostly cores stayed in human form, they were dormant. Weak enough to avoid detection.

But importantly… How did Daniel find out about Danielle's presence in the city? It made no sense. But Valerie wouldn't lie to him, not about this. Her anger towards Daniel's ghost form would blind her. She wouldn't work together with him, not to save another ghost.

"How… unfortunate," he told her. "You might understand, dear girl, that I can't reward you for this?"

"No," she sighed. "I understand, Mr. Masters."

"Well, you better get going then, my dear." He smiled at her, his smooth politician smile. He couldn't afford to cast her out. Who knew when she might come in handy as pawn, even if she had failed this time. "And next time, please tell me sooner."

"Yes Mr. Masters," she said as her hoverboard reformed again. Her expression was stern, focused. Determined. "It won't happen again."

No, he was sure it wouldn't. Next time he would take care of it himself, rather than trust a teenager like little miss Gray to take care of something this important. Or maybe he would send one of his ghostly pawns. Even if his vultures or Skulker weren't much more successful in the past, at least _they_ informed him when they failed.

For now though, he had another teenage ghost hunter to bother. If Daniel had interfered and grabbed Danielle like Valerie suggested, he still had her hidden somewhere. But he couldn't have disappeared, not like she had suggested. He still had his human life, his family to fool.

So what Vlad needed to do was pay the boy a little visit. A quick stop by FentonWorks to speak with him. Yes, and either the boy would admit where Danielle was on his own… or Vlad could just stick a tracker on him.

Another infallible plan, truly.

* * *

The door to FentonWorks opened, and Vlad let loose one of his few heart-felt smiles. Because standing there in front of him is the ever-beautiful Maddie. Her clothes left something to wish for, that dreadful jumpsuit that Jack forced on her, but still. She was as gorgeous as always.

"Ah, Madeline–" he started to say, but she held up her hand and cut him off.

"Vlad." Her tone was hard. Unfriendly. "Come in."

He had to admit… he was confused. She didn't seem very welcoming, perhaps something was going on? But then why would she let him come in? Unless it was _him_ that she was annoyed with, but surely not? What could he have done to have angered her?

She walked into the living room, and Vlad trailed in right after her. The sight that greeted him, however, stopped him dead in his tracks.

Maddie _did_ continue moving, however, as she sat down on the closest edge of the sectional couch. Next to her sat Jack, his large orange bulk taking up most of the remaining couch. He immediately laid his arm around Maddie's shoulders, in a rather possessive manner. Vlad would've felt more angered at the display if it weren't for the fact that the rest of the group was distracting him.

Next to Jack sat Jasmine. Her aqua eyes were set on him, cold and cutting. She had one of her arms wrapped around the person sitting next to her. Another girl, with sky-blue eyes and black hair bound back in a ponytail. _Danielle_. The girl had her arms wrapped around herself, looking uncertain but hopeful. What did she have to look _hopeful_ about? What was she even _doing_ here, among the rest of Daniel's family?

On the furthest end sat Daniel himself, who also had an arm wrapped around the failed clone. His gaze was hard like his mother's, but determined. For once the boy didn't try to intimidate him with his 'scary eyes'. Vlad would've complimented him, but he was sure that the boy was only refraining because he didn't want the rest of his family to see.

"What's this?" he finally uttered, turning to look at his should-be wife.

"_This_," Daniel said, standing up from the couch and gesturing at it, "is a message, Vlad. You've gone too far. And we're not gonna stand for it any longer."

"'_We'_?" he repeated, quirking an eyebrow. Surely the boy hadn't… He wouldn't, right? Yes, he hadn't been fantastic at upholding his end of their truce, but Daniel had been too afraid to reveal his secret. So, surely not?

"Yes, _we_," the boy reiterated. "They _know_, Vlad. They know everything. Everything you've said, everything you've done, and…" Daniel grinned, a cocky smile usually seen on Phantom. "Everything _we_ are."

"You didn't," he hissed, a snarl forming. Ectoplasm surged, his core thrumming to life. But he repressed it. He had no need for flashy eyes, not like Daniel. The boy was bluffing, and he didn't need to provide unnecessary evidence. He would be playing right into Daniel's hand.

"He did." Vlad turned to face Maddie again, watching as she uncrossed her arms and frowned at him. "And you, Vlad Masters, are a _fucked-up_ mess of a human being."

He flinched back at the harsh words of his love. Surely she didn't mean it? Perhaps Daniel had lied, had embellished his stories a little?

"Maddie–"

"No!" she snapped. "You listen to me! You mess with me, fine! You act like a pathetic little man who can't accept 'no' for an answer? _Fine_! But you know what you don't do?" She pushed herself off of the couch, jabbing him in the chest with a finger. "You don't mess with my children! Any of them!"

Then she leaned in even closer, teeth bared like an animal. "And you definitely don't come here, pretending none of it ever happened!"

He flinched back another step. Maddie relaxed slightly, moving back as well. The rest of her family, including the pathetic clone, rose up as well. They grouped together, all staring down Vlad.

"Now listen here, V-Man." Jack crossed his arms, an unusually serious look on his face. "I apologize for the accident in college, alright? And I'm sorry that we never knew how much we hurt you. It shouldn't have happened, even if we weren't the ones who cut the contact with you."

"But that's no excuse to hurt our children," Maddie added, also crossing her arms. "To hurt _us_. If you had just talked to us, we would've apologized. Would've told you we were sorry. Because we _are _sorry about what happened to you in college."

"Carrying a grudge like this isn't healthy," Jasmine contributed, speaking up for the first time since he had entered. "It's not okay. Not for us, but definitely not for you. It'll kill you, sooner or later."

"But we're willing to forgive you." Daniel stared him down, a flicker of… hope, perhaps?… in his eyes. Vlad couldn't quite place it, it didn't make sense. Not in this situation. "Everybody deserves a second chance, even you."

And then finally the little failure joined in. "But you gotta work for it. You have to apologize to everyone and correct your mistakes."

He snarled, ectoplasm boiling up in answer to his emotions. His vision faded red, a clear sign of his eyes changing color. "The only mistake I'm correcting is _you_!" Pink ectoplasmic energy sparked around his hands.

The whole group, in answer, shifted into battle positions. The fists of both Daniel and Danielle lit up, coiling flares of ectoplasm, ready to be fired. The other three all pulled out various pieces of ecto-weaponry, hidden _heavens_ know where.

"We've given you a choice, Vlad." Daniel's eyes lit up green. "Either you take it and apologize, or you _get out_." The last words were growled, the threat more than clear.

Vlad took another look at the group assembled in front of him. Then he huffed, his eyes fading back to their normal blue. There was nothing to be won by fighting them. No, what he needed now was time to plan.

"Fine," he drawled, flapping his hand in a faux casual gesture. "I will see all of you another time, then."

And he turned around and walked off, not once looking at the people he was leaving behind.

* * *

Title from "Middle Finger" by Bohnes. As much as I enjoy redeeming villains and anti-heroes, sometimes you just have to step back and look at the messed up things they've done. Vlad, especially, if one of those characters that I really flip-flop over. His final fate always ends up being whatever I think works best for the story - sometimes I redeem him, sometimes he gets shunted, and sometimes a little bit of both. Was this chapter the wake-up call he needed? Well, you'll find out next week, won't you?

A fun fact about both this chapter and the previous one: I apparently couldn't settle on a way for Valerie to address Vlad, because I switched about every sentence. From "Mayor Masters" to "Mr. Masters" to "mister Masters". I think I caught them all in editing though. (also shout-out to Vlad being an unreliable narrator who misreads every single one of Valerie's reactions)

Next week, the final chapter! Chapter 15 - Clean It Up


	15. Clean It Up

Fair warning: no I don't know how the police work, and especially not American police. Let's just say that any irregularities are because this is Amity Park, okay?

* * *

**Chapter 15: Clean It Up**

"We need to talk to detective Payton."

The woman behind the desk quirked an eyebrow at him, then glanced at the group behind him. "If you have a crime to report, you can speak to whichever officer is available."

"It's more complicated than that," Danny insisted. "It involves a case he was working on."

She opened her mouth again, clearly intending to shoo him away. Jazz cut her off, however. "It's really important, please. Can you just contact him and tell him that the Fentons want to talk with him."

The lady glared at them shortly, but complied. The call involved a brief back-and-forth, but once Payton had heard the words "Fenton" and "case" he seemed to have made up his mind.

Sighing, the woman at the desk put the phone down again. "He'll be here in a few moments."

"Thank you." Danny grinned, just a _little_ too pleased with the small victory. Hey, he would take whatever he got right now. Any distraction from the upcoming conversation was more than welcome.

When Payton appeared he looked more than a little resigned at the sight of their group of teenagers. "I thought that the _Fentons_ wanted to talk to me?"

"We're temporary stand-ins for his parents," Sam said with a shrug. "They're… occupied."

Payton sighed but, to his credit, didn't otherwise react. He simply led the four of them to an empty room so they could talk.

"What is this about, then? Because I'm guessing that the 'case' you wanted to talk about is _yours_?"

"Yeah," Danny confirmed with a nod. "We… We kind of left our some details."

"You _are_ aware that it's illegal to lie to the police?" Payton crossed his arms, a mild glare send towards the teens.

"We didn't lie!" Sam exclaimed, throwing out her hands. "We just didn't tell the _entire_ truth."

"Is that so?" Payton didn't look particularly convinced. Danny didn't really blame him. In fact, he kind of felt bad for the officer. His involvement in the case certainly made it a lot harder than it had any right to be. Ghosts, in general, made work for the police difficult.

"When we talked about my… ghostly nature," Danny started hesitantly, "we implied that my… more ghostly appearance was just a one time thing. It's not."

Payton nodded, now looking slightly more believing. "Is this related to your glowing green eyes during the confrontation with your parents?"

"Uh, yeah. I can trigger the whole transformation on command, but the glowing eyes happens for all sorts of reasons. Usually when I'm using my powers or when I'm experiencing really strong emotions." Danny shrugged. "I kind of… use my more 'ghostly' form as a disguise of sorts, so people don't recognize me."

"But what would you need a disguise for?" Payton squinted at him, suspicion clear on his face. "Nothing illegal, I hope?"

Danny snorted in response, leaning back in his chair. "Hardly," he said, before tapping into his powers to make his eyes glow on purpose. "Come on, it can't be _that _hard to figure out."

Payton scrutinized him for a few long moments, eyes gliding over him. Then the man sat forward, arms resting on the table. "You're saying that you are Phantom? Well, that certainly explains why you laughed when I said that if Phantom thought you were okay, it was probably safe to trust that judgment."

"What can I say, ghost hunting runs in the family." Danny smirked, a rather Phantom-like expression, to drive the point home.

The detective continued to eye him, then sighed. "You _do_ realize that this isn't going to change the decisions we made last meeting, right?"

"Yeah," Danny agreed with a shrug. "I mean, I guess I'll try for college but if I can't get in I'll just work for my parents. I'm already following their footsteps as Phantom anyway, might as well give inventing a shot too."

Then his expression fell again. "But to get back to the original topic… I'm not just telling this for fun. It's a secret for a reason."

"Yes, I suppose it is," Payton agreed, sitting back again. "What is it then?"

Danny frowning, running through his options. Apparently he took too long, because Jazz spoke up. "He's not the only one. Not the only one with a human and ghost appearance, I mean."

"And you're telling me this because… you don't think _they_ deserve their secret if you didn't get to keep yours?" Payton queried, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"No," Danny bit out. "I'm telling you because he's a _jackass_ who uses his powers for bad purposes!" The vivid green light from his eyes flickered on the desk in front of him, but he ignored it. "He hurts people, he manipulates people! And he has gone too far!"

"And who is he, then?" Payton seemed genuinely intrigued. Apparently Danny's rant had convinced him to at least play along.

"In human form or ghost form?" Tucker piped up. "Because he looks _drastically_ different and he has no problem flaunting that fact."

"In his ghost form he calls himself Plasmius." Sam crossed her arms. "But the public usually calls him the Wisconsin Ghost, I believe."

"The blue skinned vampire ghost?" Payton frowned. "I've heard of him, yes. Known to cause problems, picks fights with… Phantom." The last word he said more quietly, realization of Phantom really being a 16 year old apparently striking him.

"That's him," Danny confirmed. "His human form is also well-known. Old family friend of my parents, current mayor of the town…"

Payton grunted. "You're saying that _the_ Vlad Masters is a ghost like you?"

"How do you think he won the election?" Jazz questioned with a scoff. "He didn't stand a chance until he overshadowed most of the voters."

"And that's just one of _many_ sketchy things he has done with his powers." Tucker's jaw visibly tightened at the thought of everything the man had done. Of what he had tried to do to _him_. Danny was glad for friends like these. "Stealing money, overshadowing business rivals to take over their companies, attempted murder of Jack Fenton…"

"Kidnapping Maddie Fenton, _twice_. Kidnapping Danny _at least_ that often, including trapping him in ghost-proof bindings and _electrocuting _him," Sam continued. "Sending potentially dangerous ghosts to Amity Park, in the hopes to either kill Jack or hurt Danny."

"And that's not even to mention that he tried to _clone_ me," Danny joined in. Then with a grimace, he added, "And emotionally abusing the one clone that survived. Well, as far as a ghost can survive, of course."

Payton blinked, apparently stunned by the information overload. Then the last part processed, and he frowned. "He _cloned_ you?"

"Not very successfully, but yes." Danny shrugged, a faux casual air about him. "She didn't quite come out right, and she wasn't stable. But she's with my parents now, and we managed to save her."

"Which is also why they're not here," Tucker explained, leaning on Danny's shoulder. "Hence Sam and I as the replacement parents."

Payton remained quiet for a few moments. Then he sighed. "You _are_ aware of how bat-shit insane this sounds?"

"Welcome to my life," Danny said with a snort. "Or, well, you know what I mean."

"We can't just take your word for all of this," Payton insisted. "It sounds… Well, it sounds too bizarre to come up with, but that doesn't mean that it's true."

"And we can provide you with whatever proof you need." Sam glowered at him. "We just need your assurance that you're gonna look into it, and that you'll do your best to arrest Vlad."

Payton sighed, looking like he was very much regretting his involvement in this case. Again. "Of course. That's _literally_ my job, miss Manson. Although I _do_ wonder how you expect us to arrest and contain a ghost."

"Inventions to restrict his powers exist," Tucker supplied. "You can probably move to arrest him the normal way, since he won't be expecting you to know. Use some ghost-proof cuffs and you'll have him before he realizes."

"Fine. It's a deal. I'll need all evidence you have of his crimes, including witness reports," Payton instructed, looking like he was trying to get back in control of the situation.

Danny nodded, then pulled out his phone. "I'll call the Red Huntress. She was one of the people Vlad manipulated, and he straight-up tried to hire her to catch the clone when she escaped."

Looking he was going to regret asking, Payton nonetheless asked. "I thought the Red Huntress didn't like Phantom? Or ghosts in general?"

"Misunderstanding," Danny explained, waving Payton's concern off with his hand. "We got everything figured out, and she knows of both my identities."

"Of course," Payton groaned. "And I'm guessing you know who _she_ is, then?"

"We all do." Sam grinned at the clearly overworked detective.

The detective only groaned, but didn't say anything. Danny figured he had a pretty good idea of what the agent was feeling like.

But it was for a good cause.

* * *

It took a few days to gather all the evidence the police required. The witness reports alone took a considerable chunk of time, considering the sheer amount of people in Amity Park alone that knew about Vlad's shady business. Aside from the Fentons (all _five_ of them) and Sam and Tucker, Valerie also had to be included.

And sadly, that was easier said than done, as she needed to reveal her identity for the report to count. After all, a judge wouldn't just accept the statement of a masked vigilante that no one knew.

Thankfully she trusted Danny's judgment (and, of course, the judgments of his friends and Jazz) and allowed Payton and his team to know. They were… less than pleased to discover that she, too, was a teenager.

Knowing that it had been Vlad who pushed her into ghost hunting in the first place… Well, that eased their moods a little. Besides, she and Phantom now worked together – and they trusted Danny to keep the people of Amity safe. From ghosts, at least. Human crime… Well, that was _their_ job.

Additionally, there was some trouble with Dani's witness reports. Law wasn't exactly made with _cloning_ in mind. Legally, Danielle Fenton didn't exist.

But then, neither did ghosts.

And Amity Park… Amity Park was used to dealing with the unusual. The impossible. The non-existent.

So, really. Having a ghost and a clone of said ghost testify for the crimes of _another_ ghost… It wasn't _that_ far out of there.

Most of the people involved who knew enough about the case to know that three of the people involved were ghosts… Well, they were just glad that the ghosts were solving their issues like normal people. Instead of, you know, blasting each other to bits on the streets.

When Danny first heard people mention it, it had been some of the other officers of Payton's team. People who knew he was a ghost, but who hadn't been told about his Phantom alter-ego. He immediately thought back of all the times he and Vlad had brawled and burst into laughter.

The officers looked at him like he had gone crazy, eyebrows raised. Between giggles, Danny managed to explain himself. "You- You really don't know the half of it."

That hadn't really explained anything to the cops, but Payton coaxed them back to work before they could question Danny. The detective attempted to glare the boy into behaving himself, but failed once more. Now that he knew what the boy had faced off against, he wasn't surprised.

* * *

Finally enough evidence had been gathered. The cops set out, armed with anti-ghost weaponry and ghost-proof cuffs. A cell had been prepared beforehand, covered by a ghost shield provided by FentonWorks. A special one, they assured, which would hold even the most powerful and skilled of ghosts.

Payton double-checked his gear. Then he gave the start signal, allowing his officers to pour into the mansion.

Within minutes the team returned, guiding Vlad Masters in their middle. The man was dressed, as always, in an impeccable suit. He frowned at Payton when his guides stopped him in front of the detective.

"Sir, with all due respect, but what on Earth is happening here?"

Payton offered the man a lopsided smile. Then in one swift movement he cuffed Vlad's wrists together, preventing his escape.

"Vlad Masters, also known as Vlad Plasmius, you are under arrest for… Well, for a lot of crimes." His smile grew a little wider, a little more genuine. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court."

Vlad's eyes widened, his gaze shifting between his bound wrists and the police officers surrounding them. Payton ignored him, continuing with his whole rights speech.

"Wait, no," Vlad pleaded. "You must be mistaken- I have never heard of a name like '_Plasmius_' before."

"Save it for court." Payton shoved the man forward, towards the van that would transport him. Several officers, all armed with ectoplasmic weaponry, would ride with him. The cuffs _should_ prevent him from using his powers to escape, but better safe than sorry.

Then he turned towards the rest of the officers still waiting. He inclined his head towards the mansion that stood before them, looming in the approaching dark.

"Well then, let's see how many sketchy things we can find in here. Sources say that he has an underground lab hidden, like some kind of supervillain." He grinned at the crowd of police. "First one to find and enter it _without_ disturbing actual evidence gets a reward."

He clapped his hands together. "Ready, set. Go!"

And then the officers were off, leaving Payton to observe. The boy had been right. Arresting Vlad had been easy, as the man hadn't expected them in the slightest.

How clever he thought himself. What a sham.

* * *

The Summer vacation hadn't done much to calm Casper High's rumor mill. The turbulent arrest of ex-mayor Vlad Masters right after the start of said vacation had spurred on all rumors. Not much was known about it, but that didn't stop the teenagers. They whittled away, discovered the smallest details. Any slip-ups were gladly accepted and brought into the rumors.

So it wasn't much of a surprise that they discovered that Danny Fenton had been involved as well. Not as a perpetrator, oh no.

As a victim.

Which, of course, combined well with the previous rumors of him being a ghost. It didn't take long for the first theories to emerge, suggesting that Vlad was his killer. That he had played a critical role in the death of Danny Fenton.

And so when the school year started, against all odds… The rumors hadn't died off. Quite the opposite. Even more people than before believed that the boy, now in his final year of school, was a ghost.

So they kept their eyes open for his arrival.

Eventually, their wait was rewarded. The doors of the school opened, and in the opening he stood.

Lanky, with unbrushed but shiny black hair. Icy blue eyes that, ironically, sparkled with life. A surprisingly healthy gloss to his pale skin. A playful but kind smile on his face. For once, he looked well-rested. No bags under his eyes.

Perhaps… Perhaps Vlad Masters really _had_ been responsible for his death. Perhaps Danny Fenton could finally rest easy, knowing that the man was finally arrested.

His outfit was much like the usual.

The girl he had his arm wrapped around… much less so.

She, unlike Danny, looked uncertain. Shaky. A red beanie sat perched on her head, but messy black hair still spilled out of it.

Her eyes, blue as the skies, glanced around the entrance hall with vigor. She looked guarded, like she was expecting someone to suddenly attack her.

She had her hands stuck in the pockets of her oversized blue hoodie. A crease in her brow suggested, however, that said hands were clenched into fists.

Standing right next to Danny Fenton, it was very _very_ clear that she looked almost exactly like him. A little younger, perhaps, but undeniably identical.

The crowd parted the let the two through. But they remained nearby, hovering around the two. Waiting. Watching.

In the end, it was Dash Baxter who decided that he'd had enough. He stepped forward, breaking from the line and into the circle of personal space that had been granted to Danny and his… whoever she was.

"Hey _Fenton_," he bit, stressing the last name of the ghostly teen. "Who's this?"

"Oh hey Dash," Danny greeted as he turned to face the other boy. He pulled the girl next to him a little closer to his side, drawing a displeased hiss from her. "This is Danielle, or Dani."

"With an _i_," the girl muttered under her breath, barely audible.

"Okaaay." Dash frowned, looking between the two. "That still didn't answer my question of _who_ she is."

"Oh, right." Danny flapped his free hand. "She's my dead sister."

Dash froze up, and sharp intakes of breath could be heard from everywhere in the crowd. "She's your _what_?"

"My dead sister," Danny repeated, finally releasing the girl to reach towards his locker. Then he looked over his shoulder at the crowd and grinned.

And stuck his arm right through the _still closed_ locker door.

"Funny how that works, huh?" he said, with his arm still waving through his locker. He looked like was searching for something without being able to see it.

Dani, meanwhile, seemed to have gotten over her nerves. She leaned back against the lockers, standing right next to Danny. She was still eyeing the crowd, however, a little warily.

Soft mutters could be heard from the crowd, but no one had a real response. Sure, everyone had been convinced that Danny was a ghost. Hell, Dash had even _seen_ the boy go intangible before.

But this was undeniable proof. And it was a lot less feeble than a whiffed punch by a jock.

Finally Dash got his thoughts back in order, though. "So why's she here now?"

"Well," Danny hummed as he finally pulled his arm out of the locker again. Held in his hand were several books for school. "You guys all knew I was a ghost anyway, so she didn't have to hide anymore."

He turned back to face his once-bully with a lopsided grin on his face. Then he shrugged. "Besides, where else is a ghost going to get an education?"

* * *

The title from "Family" by Mother Mother. And so it ends, huh? 15 chapters and 50.000 words later, my first proper multi-chapter ends. And jeez, it sure was a learning experience. I started writing it in November, and finished it at the start of March - although I have been tweaking the chapters before posting them, too. Just picking off the last typos and making small corrections, you know?

But, whooh. It's really exciting to have this all posted now! All your comments and support has been astounding, and I hope that the last chapter lived up to your expectations! Personally I'm really happy with it, all things considered. But I've definitely learned some new things about multi-chapters that I'll use to make the next ones even better! And speaking of which...

My next weekly updates will start going up on Saturday, not Wednesday. So next week on Saturday, the third chapter of What a Nice Surprise will go up!  
After that, the weekly updates will persist - and after WaNS ends, I'll start posting Weirdward on a weekly basis instead. So I've got weekly DP fics until the end of the year - and isn't that a scary thought?


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